This week I attended Luke Wroblewski’s day-long workshop on Mobile Inputs at the UX Immersion 2012 conference. Here are my notes:
Mobile Input Controls
- New mobile inputs are not just disruptive — They introduce completely new ways of doing things and totally new things to do.
- Some designers will tell you not to use text inputs because people won’t type on a smartphone, but people send 4 billion SMS messages every day.
- When people have something they want or need to do on their smartphone they will use text inputs if they have no other choice.
- That said, avoid having people type any time you can, but don’t avoid text inputs when you can’t. Always encourage input, don’t limit it.
- Think of people as one eyeball and one thumb when you design. Their partial attention requires a very focused design.
- Think of a smartphone as a content creation device, not just a media consumption device. The most popular apps are content creation apps — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Draw Something.
- Try to use the standard input types for mobile websites because they have been optimized for the operating system.
- When you use standard input types, good things happen, because people already know how to use them. But don’t be afraid to go beyond the standard ones.
- Try not to use select menus in Android if contents are longer than the screen because people may think their choice is limited to what is on the screen.
- Try non-standard input types when there are too many taps, like the four required to use the select menu picker in iOS.
- A stepper is easier than a picker if you have a small range (3 to 5) of numeric choices.
- Only present input controls when people actually need them. Use progressive disclosure. Don’t hit them with everything up front in a long form.
Touch Target Size
- Design for a physical size, not a pixel size, due to differences in screen resolution and pixel density. Apple, Android, and Microsoft have extensive documentation and recommendations.
- Use a minimum spacing between tappable objects as recommended by the operating system developer.
- Studies show that 80% to 90% of people are right handed, and that about 50% of left-handed people use their right hand to for their phone. Most apps can get away with being designed for right-handed users.
How to Make Input Less Error Prone
- Use the correct keyboard version for email addresses, URLs, and numeric values like zip codes and credit card numbers. For mobile web this is supported by HTML5 input types.
- Turn off auto-capitalize and auto-correct for login screens.
- Use input masks to change people’s input to the correct format. For email addresses, use an input mask that puts @yourdomain.com at the end of whatever the user types and show the person this is what is happening.
- Use smart defaults (for example, the no tax checkbox is selected by default on eBay mobile).
- Top align field labels because of field zoom.
- Don’t remove critical features, like password recovery, from a login screen.
- Consider just showing the password instead of masking it as asterisks, or show it by default and give the user the option to hide it.
- Apply the concept of “touch first” and only go to the keyboard when there is no other way to collect the information.
Mobile Web vs. Native Apps
- It’s not about which is better, it’s about what’s right for the use context and business goals.
- A mobile website has near universal reach; a native app is a much more richer experience (although HTML5 and jQuery Mobile are changing that rapidly).
- Designers working on the mobile web should look at apps for examples of controls you could try on mobile websites. The creators of Android and iOS built new operating systems from the ground up so they have had to think about making controls better.
- Many device features like geolocation and access to a device’s compass are now available to web browsers through APIs. Even greater access to a device’s hardware features is coming in the future.
- Facebook and Twitter get half of their content from mobile devices, and half of Facebook’s mobile content is from the mobile web.
- The more app usage occurs, the more mobile web use occurs, and vice versa. They both drive each other.
- The more people engage with a brand through the mobile web or apps, the more they engage with the desktop experience. Recognize they are all part of a holistic experience.
Mobile Web Advantages
- Cross-platform reach and near universal access with one code case.
- Faster development time because well-known web technologies like HTML, JavaScript, and CSS are used.
- Larger developer pool available.
- You can update your app at any time and don’t have to wait for Apple App Store review or for people to download the app to get the latest features.
Native App Advantages
- Deeper hardware access.
- Multi-tasking.
- App sales and in app sales.
- Integrated access with other locations like stores is easier (at least today).
- Faster performance because much of the UI is already on the device.
Design From a Mobile Mindset
- If you approach a checkout flow from a desktop perspective you’ll just get a shorter form.
- If you approach it from a mobile mindset you’ll think about whether or not this person is in a physical store with a device that has a camera and can scan barcodes. Mobile devices can streamline the in-store checkout process.
Voice/Audio Input and Proximity Sensors
- Android allows voice input to any form that allows text input.
- Apple has Siri, and it is rumored Apple may open Siri APIs to programmers at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
- Shazam and IntoNow use ambient sounds around a person as audio input.
- If you put an iPhone next to your face during a call the proximity sensor hides the keypad so you don’t “cheek dial”.
- With proximity sensors “every object in the world is now an input”.
Device Sensors for Input
- Instapaper speeds up or slows down scrolling speed when you change the pitch of the device, allowing people read at their own pace without swiping.
- Nearest Tube uses device motion, GPS, and the compass to show nearest London Underground station.
- Google Goggles and FitBit are also examples of using hardware features as inputs.
- The Android Galaxy Nexus, the first phone to come with Android 4.0 installed, uses facial recognition for its Face Unlock feature.
- A proposed addition to the GetMediaUser API would open this to web browsers.
- While Windows 8 is a desktop operating system, it allows people to create logins by logging custom gestures on lock screen images, for example drawing a line from a child to a pet on the picture. This is a very human solution to login problems. It’s like telling the computer “Hello, it’s me, let me in.”
Gestures for Input
- Multiple finger gestures: two-finger drag moves an object, three-finger drag moves an entire pane in an app, four-finger drag moves the user between apps, and five-finger drag invokes operating system functions. However, these are emerging pattern, not universal rules.
- Teach in context to help people learn how the app works when they need to know it, not in some large upfront tutorial (the Clear app does both).
- Use content as navigation to remove as much chrome as possible.
Luke Wroblewski is the author of Mobile First. You can follow him on Twitter at @lukew
