Thoughts on People and Technologies that Extend Them

Monday, November 22, 2010

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

0918 948 2520 <- My new number

I finally changed my mobile number. Please save it (+63 918 948 2520) and delete the old one.

Thanks! :)

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Twitter and Opera Mini 5: The Future of Android Apps

Android is great, but like any other platform, there's room for improvement. As I wrote before, Android has conventions that are bad for UX. I was actually afraid that these conventions could not be broken, because those hardware buttons are here to stay and forcing changes could bring injustice to Android hardware buttons.

Twitter and Opera Mini 5 are two new Android apps that stand out because of their great UX design. I don't know if I should consider this fortunate or otherwise, but they're good because of not following Android conventions.

Twitter's deviations from Android app conventions include the title bar (thicker and has clickable elements), putting buttons on the screen that are usually found in the menu, and having different look and feel of tabs.

Opera Mini 5's share of deviations include the lack of menu, using the menu button to show/hide the Address Field / Search, and the inclusion of a mouse pointer among many others.

I consider all of the said deviations positive. Contrary to what I believed, the hardware buttons are still useful. They are also great especially because of showing more of the necessary GUI elements on the screen. It's time to graduate from hiding too many buttons in the menu. As I said, things that we see influence what we do. As long as clutter is avoided, it is good to show the user more of what's happening with an app and what he can do with it. After all, Google is open enough to allow deviations.

Twitter and Opera Mini 5 hold the key to the future of Android apps.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Is the iPad a Wasteful Innovation?


When the iPad was announced, people made fun of it. In a world full of laptops, netbooks, and smartphones; what unmet need would the iPad address? It runs a version of iPhone OS, which is not significantly superior to the smartphone. Is its hardware significant enough to justify the existence of iPod Touch Jumbo?

"Technology first, invention second, needs last"

Don Norman described in an essay that design or marketing research did not play significant roles in shaping powerful inventions. He said that it has always been "technology first, invention second, needs last." Inventions are not always needed, but when they succeed, they affect our lives greatly. If you think about it, life used to be fine without cellphones.

Great UX design over features

Tim Gideon from PC Mag said:
There may be things it doesn't do, but what it does do, it does remarkably well.
This new type of mobile device isn't a smartphone or a laptop. Those two do things that the iPad doesn't. However, the iPad seems to do some things better than others. The tangible feel of the web on iPad is better than the browsing experience on laptop and desktop computers. The larger screen of the iPad doesn't require mobile versions of websites, unlike smartphones or other smaller devices.

How about tablet PCs that largely share the same form factor? Apparently, even if those computers do more than the iPad, the great unique experience that the big iPod Touch provides is more significant than its lack of features.

The slate is already influential

At this early stage, the iPad is already very important that the web and other things are being shaped to adapt to its existence. Many are moving to HTML5 and new mobile applications are being made just for the iPad. As Don Norman said; most inventions fail, but the ones that succeed change our lives.

Hiding features is better than removing features

When a person can carry an iPad, he can manage to bring a laptop or a netbook instead. iPad owners could end up carrying a laptop, an iPad, and a smartphone most of the time. This means many overlapping features. Now that it appears that Swiss knives aren't always better than specialists, humanity should find a way to conserve resources. Having to maintain many devices is very wasteful. A laptop replacement, which also has the great things about the iPad, would be best. There may be some people who can afford to purchase and bring many devices with them, but waste is not justified. Perhaps, avoiding this waste is a greater need than the small pretty things about the iPad. This piece of technology should get nothing more than the attention that it deserves.

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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Physical Ergonomics of GUIs on Touchscreen Devices

Touchscreen devices are becoming more popular these days, especially mobile ones. The market is full of great touchscreen smartphones from different makers. The release of the iPad will probably contribute more to this.

My question on UXExchange regarding window control positioning and arrangement started a discussion on how physical ergonomics should be considered when designing those controls. Perhaps, this issue would be a lot more relevant for touchscreen devices. Furthermore, window controls aren't the only elements that should be considered when talking about the physical ergonomics of interacting with a GUI.

The form factor of devices, screen size of devices, handedness of people, and effort required to hold the device are some of the factors that could affect the interaction of fingers of people and touchscreen interfaces.

The world should prepare to face a finger-friendly internet. The spotlight starting to move away from the mouse.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

The Power of Prompts on GUIs

I came across the idea of "prompts" on GUIs when I asked this question on UXExchange.com. Two people answered that "Share This" buttons prompt readers to share.

I have never used a "Share This" button or anything of that sort. Whenever I find something interesting online, because of the highly ergonomic setup of my computer, I always had the impression that sharing content on the web would always be more convenient if I do it manually than through an automated process, which could even compromise my social networking accounts. I haven't tested this so I don't have the numbers, but it's logical that "Share This" buttons can prompt people to share information, whether they are going to use the sharing service or not.

Recently, I have notable "prompting experiences" on mobile operating systems. On the iPhone, because of the limited hardware buttons, opening menus are done through the GUI. I appreciated this when I started being an Android user. On Android; going back to the previous screen, opening menus, and searching are all done with the use of hardware buttons. How are you going to know if and how those buttons are going to work on a certain screen? You have to test. There's nothing to prompt you.

Prompting and the lack of it largely influence the world. They're the advertisements of activities.

My Blog's Ironic Shortcoming

I intended this blog to be a source of reliable information on human experiences with technology. The quality of my entries had always been my primary concern. I wanted to write entries that aren't far from journal articles. With that mindset; I tended to postpone posting because of the lack of time to write something lengthy, desire to share only big ideas, and reserve sharing great thoughts in more profitable venues. As expected, I rarely post and my few entries aren't as presentable as I want them to be.

This blog is relatively new and it probably doesn't have an audience that is committed enough to read lengthy posts about highly technical things. I'll keep in mind that I'm not blogging about pop stars so I'll have to make my posts as usable as possible for varied personas.

Friday, February 12, 2010

UX of Android OS Buttons

Typical Android devices have four buttons: "back ", "menu ", "home ", and "search ". I find them very useful on my Nexus One. They're too useful that they have to be much more accessible. On my hardware, they're just soft keys that seemingly lack calibration. I just found out on XDA that they should be touched on the upper part.

To those who aren't familiar, here is a table of what the buttons are for from Google's User's Guide

Opens the previous screen you were working in. If the onscreen keyboard is open, closes the keyboard.
Opens a menu with items that affect the current screen or application.
Opens the Home screen. If you're viewing the left or right extended Home screen, opens the central Home screen.
Opens the most recently used applications screen.
In some applications, opens Quick Search Box for searching the phone and the web. In other applications, opens a search box for just that application. Press twice to open Quick Search Box from any application.
Power
(top left)
Opens a menu with options for Airplane mode, for Silent mode, and for powering off the phone.
Volume Up / Down
(left side)
When a call is in progress, increases or decreases the call volume. When the phone is ringing, silences the ringer. On the Home screen when no call is in progress, increases or decreases the ringtone volume, or sets the phone to be silent or to vibrate instead of ringing. In other applications, controls the volume of music, spoken directions, and other audio.
Quickly increases the ringtone volume to maximum or minimum.

This may sound good because those buttons don't have to be in the screen, unlike in the iPhone, which only has a "home" hardware button. Yes, this lessens the number of elements on the screen, but I see having those hardware buttons as a disadvantage.

On the iPhone, the back button, usually on the upper left, tells what the previous screen is. You'll know what you'll get when you go back. On Android phones, you have to remember what the previous screen is because nothing, other than your memory, will tell you. It is also inconsistent in some cases. If you open your browser from the home screen, clicking the "back " button will bring you to the previous webpage, if there is. If there isn't, you'll go back to the home screen. This way, you will have to guess what your back button will do.

The "menu " button is also confusing. Some apps don't have menus so pressing "menu " will not display a menu in some cases. I also love how menus are displayed on the iPhone. having a button on the screen that tells you there's a menu prompts you to see what the menu contains. On my Nexus One, some apps like Facebook preach the usage of the "menu " button. Their devs probably know that many people will likely miss features that they put on their app because of being hidden under the "menu " button.

I have no problem with how the "home " button works. I know that when I click it, I'll go back to my home screen.

The "search " button is confusing like the other two. On the home screen, it's given that "search " will open the "Quick Search Box" of Android. However, some apps have search functions so "search " will open the search box for the specific app. When there isn't a search function for the active app, clicking "search " will open the "Quick Search Box". How would you know if you're going to get the "Quick Search Box" when you click "search " while on an app? You test it.

In general, people have to guess if a button is going to work in a particular context the way they expect it to. The screen does not give any clue on how the buttons are going to work. The user has to rely on logic and memory. It is even harder for an app that the user is unfamiliar with. People will likely miss features of applications because they are impossible to find if the user didn't realize to press a button that isn't on the screen.

I suggest that Google and other parties come up with ways to show on the screen which buttons are useful in every context and give a clue on how they're going to work. Having those extra GUI elements means more use of the screen real estate, but those are too necessary to miss. They also have to make sure that those buttons are going to be easy to press, because of how often the user has to use them.

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Manila, Philippines
UX Visionary and Open Source Advocate