

A polite rant on mobile UX - toportyan
http://blog.hipwerk.com/a-polite-rant-on-mobile-ux/

======
dr4g0n
> The so-called “ow zone” is a zone that is hard to reach with your thumb,
> like corners of the screen.

The image that goes along with this point demonstrates the areas that are hard
to reach for right-handed users, ignoring that ~10% of people are left-handed
and have trouble reaching the opposite corners. Your design shouldn't assume
that two particular corners are bad and the other two are fine, _all_ four
corners should be used for uncommon options only.

~~~
ovulator
I’m right handed, but I use my phone with my left hand. Most of the time
because I need my dominant hand to do something more complex. I don’t know if
“handiness” really determines the hand in which you hold your phone.

------
emehrkay
"Android is Android"

I don't like the fact that Google's apps, all of them, feel foreign on iOS and
OSX. Chrome has its own PDF renderer, settings pane, maximize behavior (before
Yosemite), other little things. The iOS apps feel like the Android ones.

Google seems to be creating its own little OS inside of every other OS and the
baseline is Chrome (OS). Wasn't there an effort, or talk about, to have Chrome
do its own thing in Windows 8? This is why Material Design is important to
Google. It targets the lowest common dominator, web browsers, and seems like
it runs the same on a powerful computer or low-spec'd phone. While Material
looks good, I feel that they may have held back a little because of browser
limitations (you cannot do overlay blurring like iOS, for example).

Anyway, a lot of people love the common feel of apps across platforms. People
seem to really like that about SublimeText and Chrome. I personally don't. I
thought it was in poor taste when Apple made Safari and iTunes behave as if it
were on OS X when running on Windows and I think Apple even had its on OS
X-style update windows for the windows apps.

It's a fine line. As a developer Id rather code once and ship than to figure
out all of the little idiosyncrasies for every platform. As a certain type of
user I want apps to act like the other apps on my platform of choice, most
users probably don't care or notice though.

~~~
netcan
I don't care much about native feel. When the things I like in a platform
aren't preserved (cmd-comma for preferences), I get annoyed. When the things I
dislike (OSX maximize) aren't preserved, I like it.

Overall, I think a little convention breaking is good. First, code once is a
genuine advantage. It means faster releases across more platforms and more
benefit to users. Second, it generates a little internal competition. If more
apps break OSX maximize and users like it, maybe Apple will change it.

In the best cases, the freedom to invent the wheel yields gradually improving
wheels.

~~~
DanBC
> In the best cases, the freedom to invent the wheel yields gradually
> improving wheels.

Except on mobile we have a bunch of reinvented wheels of varying non-round
shapes and they all suck, leaving the user to guess what weird combinations of
touching, tapping, swiping, double fingered tapping, etc will perform the
desired action for this particular app.

------
lucaspiller
> Network data access costs a lot of money in some countries

Very much this. I live in a country which has country wide LTE coverage in
populated areas. While the network is fast, data is very expensive. Here 1GB
of data in a bundle is around 35 USD, where as back home I can get 25GB for
the same.

I have mobile data turned off for most apps because of this. Everytime I open
one (even if it works perfect offline) iOS pops up "Mobile data is turned off
for XXX".

~~~
toportyan
Thanks. In the past I downloaded some large files and I had to pay heavy money
for them, so, as a developer, I will keep this in mind for a long time :)

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podgib
I couldn't agree more with point one on the 'ow zone.' I really can't
understand why since ICS, google insists on putting so many important UI
elements at the top of the screen, even as screens are getting bigger and
bigger.

~~~
toportyan
That's right. I have a few more thoughts on reasonable screen sizes, maybe
I'll write another blog post on that topic as well.

------
Ambadassor
> Depending on your target audience, strive for accessibility, create layouts
> that can be used while e.g. driving, try to make your application adapt to
> the environment (for example mind the time of the day)

Spotify (at least the iOS version) does this both wrong and right.

When you browse for music, the app offers playlists based on the time of day.
This is great, as the time of day has a lot of influence on the mood you'll
want your music to convey.

On the other hand, player view got one thing wrong. In this view, you can
swipe down anywhere to exit the player view - as the player is "minimized"
when you're browsing for music. However, swiping down anywhere really means
_anywhere_ \- even when you're trying to skip the current song, and your
finger happens to move down a little (maybe because you're driving), it
minimizes the player rather than skipping the song. The minimized player is a
smaller touch target than the playback icons, which makes returning to the
player view and ultimately skipping the song extra-hard.

~~~
toportyan
Thanks for the example. One of the motivations behind this article was to draw
attention to the handedness of the mobile user and to the fact that the mobile
user's attention is usually divided, the mobile user is usually 'multitasking'
while using a smartphone. Under such circumstances, the user could easily miss
a button that is not placed in the best location.

------
CheckHook
Spotify has a massive UX flaw.

To access the options for a track there is a button on the right hand side,
this is also where the scroll menu appears. I often find myself half way up
the playlist when I wanted to queue a song.

~~~
untog
On Android? That's where I experience this same infuriating problem.

------
onion2k
At what screen size will the "ow zone" problem become moot because it's
impossible to use a phone with one hand? Are we already there with phones like
the Galaxy Note 2 and iPhone 6+?

~~~
sp332
If you double-tap the iPhone 6 home button, it moves the content of the screen
down so you can reach it with your thumb.

~~~
DanBC
That doesn't sound particularly discoverable. That sounds like a power-user
keyboard shortcut for what should be simple functionality.

~~~
sp332
Most of the touchscreen functions are not discoverable. Pinch-to-zoom, long-
press, swiping with multiple fingers, etc. It's very easy to do though, not
what I would call a power-user thing. Remember there is only one physical
button on the front of the device, and this is one of the things that it does.

~~~
DanBC
Yes, I misuse "power user" to mean "someone who reads the fine manual" or
"someone who does a websearch to learn about nice features".

~~~
sp332
At least for some features like pinch-to-zoom they included very clear
examples in the massive ad campaigns. I don't remember seeing this feature in
an ad but it wouldn't surprise me. At least it's on this page
[https://www.apple.com/iphone-6/design/](https://www.apple.com/iphone-6/design/)

------
RyanMcGreal
Sidenote: at the top is a "tl;dr" link to a summary of key points at the
bottom. The link is a named anchor #toolongdidntread. When you click it, the
page scrolls down to the bottom but the location doesn't change to the anchor.
That means you can't hit "back" to get back to the top of the page.

It's just a small thing, but I find the cumulative weight of little touches
that break basic browser functionality for marginal aesthetic reasons really
start to grate on me.

~~~
toportyan
Thanks for the observation. I'll fix this UX issue :)

~~~
RyanMcGreal
True to your word. Nicely done. Thank you!

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Someone1234
I haven't held a phone with one hand since 2011. I do mean that literally has
I've owned a 5.1-5.2" phone since then. Therefore don't use my thumb to
interact with it at all.

The whole "The 'ow' zone" section assumes small phones, small hands, and right
handed users.

~~~
cauterized
Just because you don't doesn't mean that nobody does. Ever tried to use a
phone two-handed while holding onto a subway pole? Or walking home with
groceries? Or holding your kid's hand?

~~~
Someone1234
> Just because you don't doesn't mean that nobody does.

The article claims though that everyone does which is what I take issue with.

~~~
cauterized
> The reason behind this term is that in many cases Mobile Users hold their
> device with one hand, and perform actions using their thumbs.

Many, not all. It's enough of a problem for enough people that developers
should pay attention to it.

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wffurr
The standard android and iOS navigation controls are directly within the "ow
zone". Application "up" in the top left, system "back" in the bottom left. App
switcher in the bottom right. The "go/search" button on the keyboard, bottom
right.

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detaro
Article is fine, but:

One of the worst examples for the "above the fold" image: a) it is pixelated
like crazy and to big to comfortably read its contents, b) the headline is
really hard to read and find, because it is white text on a background of
white text on black...

~~~
toportyan
Thanks for pointing that out. I will change it to something that fits better.

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Ambadassor
The part about Android actually applies to all mobile operating systems - they
would all rather you'd use their native UX language than invent your own.

~~~
toportyan
That is correct, the user is used to a platform's behavior, and, in my opinion
respecting the native UX language will keep that specific platform's user
happy.

