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Study: Content-focused iPad apps value form over function
http://x404.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=13782		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  forquare1 [ Fri May 27, 2011 7:26 am ]
Post subject:  Study: Content-focused iPad apps value form over function
Quote:
A report released by the Nielsen Norman Group shows that many iPad apps are confusing users by being too subtle about the gestures needed to navigate them, and some are not sensitive enough to the accuracy limit of fingertips. The authors also found that many companies with perfectly functional websites are wasting their time making a less-functional iPad app.

The authors of the report sought to determine what roadblocks a group of 16 individuals interacting with iPads they've owned for two months would experience during use. The test subjects were asked to perform a variety of tasks on different apps and a few websites, including finding a story of interest they could easily get back to on The Daily, listening to the last "Science Friday" episode on NPR's app, and looking for a birthday gift for themselves on Amazon.


Continue reading on Ars Technica

An interesting read, points raised are relevant to pretty much any tablet app.
Author:  paulzolo [ Fri May 27, 2011 10:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Study: Content-focused iPad apps value form over function
forquare1 wrote:
Quote:
A report released by the Nielsen Norman Group shows that many iPad apps are confusing users by being too subtle about the gestures needed to navigate them, and some are not sensitive enough to the accuracy limit of fingertips. The authors also found that many companies with perfectly functional websites are wasting their time making a less-functional iPad app.

The authors of the report sought to determine what roadblocks a group of 16 individuals interacting with iPads they've owned for two months would experience during use. The test subjects were asked to perform a variety of tasks on different apps and a few websites, including finding a story of interest they could easily get back to on The Daily, listening to the last "Science Friday" episode on NPR's app, and looking for a birthday gift for themselves on Amazon.


Continue reading on Ars Technica

An interesting read, points raised are relevant to pretty much any tablet app.


Yes - the problem here is multifold:

Companies want to be seen to be on the iPad. They also want a walled garden to their content - so the Amazon app will keep the user on Amazon - there won’t be the temptation to use that Google bar to find cheaper prices elsewhere. In essence, iPads (and tablets in general) are tempting to companies because of this.

At times, an app is better than a website. I fond the FaceBook website harder to use on an iPad because it has not been built for a touch interface. Links are too small, some behaviours of the website are better with a mouse than with a finger. Because of the way Mobile Safari displays content, scrolling in certain situations is bad. I also don’t want to keep pinching to zoom text that I can’t read properly. So I use an App (and as there isn’t a Facebook iPad app, I have a third party one). Ditto the x404 web site - I use Tapatalk.

The Moleskine app is a mess. It looks good, but I’ve not used it since loading it onto my iPad - it’s complex. I agree with the article on that one.

As far as I can make out, iOS (and indeed any tablet) scream “keep it simple, stupid” - yet too many app developers seem to like to add complexity.

I can name few apps that are simple to use, and which take advantage of the touch interface. I would like to single out ComicLIfe - that app feels like it was really thought out before they started coding. There are a few niggles, but it shows how a complex app can make things quite simple.
Author:  timark_uk [ Fri May 27, 2011 12:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Study: Content-focused iPad apps value form over function
paulzolo wrote:
I fond the FaceBook website harder to use on an iPad because it has not been built for a touch interface. Links are too small, some behaviours of the website are better with a mouse than with a finger. Because of the way Mobile Safari displays content, scrolling in certain situations is bad. I also don’t want to keep pinching to zoom text that I can’t read properly. So I use an App (and as there isn’t a Facebook iPad app, I have a third party one). Ditto the x404 web site - I use Tapatalk.
Interesting. The only problem I've had with Fb is uploading images, everything else I use Safari for.
This site is the same. No problems with normal usability. There's issues of scrolling in the reply box if the comment overflows the space provided and the search page is pretty much screwed, but I'm not going to pay for an app just for those two things, especially when there's workarounds and x404 doesn't get anything from it.

Mark
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