The Secret behind Great Mobile Applications and Website Design – Can your kids use it?

I recently attended MoMo Delhi (Mobile Monday meetup) on 17th July. Great event. During the introduction, one of the attendees talked about how his 16 month old daughter asks for paddy (iPad) when she gets up in morning, and she knows how to get to the Home screen, and so on. This reminded me of my nephews Ranek and Trish who simply love to play games and download newer ones on their father’s iPhone and Nokia N97. They are 6 years and 4 years old respectively. Older one has been doing it for the last 2 years, and already can go to App Store, understands when the iPhone is on the Wi-Fi and when its on Cellular (Speed issues..) and knows the difference between paid and free apps.

So, can a 16 month old or a  year old or 6 year old use your mobile website or mobile application without much training or help? Is that a test you should go for before launching your flashy new mobile website or app? I am slowly agreeing with Yes, but let’s find out the user interface and usability design principles you can follow while creating mobile applications.

1. Simple. Less is More.
When it comes to mobile websites, simplicity is key. Because of the lack of space on the screen and Internet connections that are often slower, it’s important for visitors to have access to what is most crucial, and as little else as possible. Prioritize Content. Heavy Content makes your app/site sluggish where 3G networks aren’t available.

2. Analyze Customer Flows. Especially the negative ones.
Mobile App / website user is not like a typical desktop user and would browse your app/site while waiting in the car, driving (risky but it happens) and will be frustrated by poor navigation schemes or unnecessary click paths. That’s why you rock-solid mobile information architecture after properly analyzing customer flows.

3. Design for different Screens.
Fragmentation in mobile devices is reality. iPhone is 320 pixels wide by 480 pixels high, Nokia N-Series is 240 pixels wide by 320 pixels high, Blackberry screen resolutions range anywhere from 160 x 160 pixels all the way up to 324 x 352 pixels and many more. Use a database such as dotMobi’s DeviceAtlas or the open source WURFL to help your site detect visitors’ devices and then optimize for the most frequented mobile devices.

4. Location.
Both Google and Yahoo successfully use user locations to tailor their local search results. Using mobile context both makes the user’s life easier and your application smarter. Leverage that.

5. Validate with Guidelines.
Check your site complies to industry standards with dotMobi’s mobiReady or the World Wide Web Consortium’s mobileOK. For a mobile app, always validate with the app platform, which may be Apple, Android, Blackberry or any other.

6. Test, Test, Test.
You may use emulators and desktop browsers to test your mobile website or app but there are many elements of mobile device usage that can’t be replicated accurately in this way. Devote a good amount of time to testing and fine tuning on different devices. You can also leverage mobile testing clouds for the same.

Interested in knowing more about how can we help you in creating your next user friendly mobile application, smartphone app, or mobile website. Get in touch with us.

Till then, use some of the above guidelines or more, and do test out your app / website with few kids. One, it would be fun, and Second, you would get some insights from user behavior.

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