Usability for Mobile

In 2009, use of mobile technologies - especially smartphones - took off like never before thanks to the launch of several next generation smartphones from Apple, Blackberry and others, along with many new useful apps. Gartner research reported that "In 2009, smartphone sales reached 172.4 million units, a 23.8 percent increase from 2008." In early 2010, an executive with Google famously predicted that the desktop would be "dead in three years." Searches for the word "mobile" have nearly doubled from 2005 to 2009.

The mobile revolution is in full swing, and it may be that, at the heart of things, the only thing that has and is still holding back mobile from completely offsetting the desktop computer is (you guessed it) usability:

• Usability of mobile technology for finding and making use of information.
• The usability of many websites; that is, their lack of mobility-friendliness.

Who knows about mobile websites, or usability and design for mobile and smartphones?
No one is better equipped to deal with mobile design than web designers. They have coding skills already in place. The good ones tend to love elegance (which mobility demands). They have experience creating Internet interactions within technical (and other) constraints. And by and large, designers know how to adapt.

That being said, designers and design teams need to be reminded of some of the fundamental differences between traditional web design and design for mobile and smartphones. These differences include:

• Smaller screen and the restriction (certainly for now) to single-tasking.
• Limited ways of interacting, for both downloading and uploading as well as limitations, especially time limitations, on downloading.

Please contact us to learn more about our mobile usability consulting.

Much of the material in our guide to design and usability for mobile devices is based on our own experience but it is also indebted to a variety of other sources, including:

• www.slideshare.net/Rachel_Hinman/mobile-user-experience-what-web-designers-need-to-know
• http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-usability.html