mobile ui ergonomics

8/10/2019 Mobile Ui Ergonomics

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MOBILE UIERGONOMICS

S.BanerjeeM/BFT/11/20



INTRODUCTION TO “SOFT”

ERGONOMICS

• Soft Ergonomics is the study of designing virtualinterfaces that cater towards the wellness of thehuman body, its emotional and cognitive abilities.

• Software ergonomics standards establish designprinciples for multimedia user interfaces.

• They address user interfaces for applications thatincorporate, integrate and synchronize static mediasuch as text, graphics or images, and dynamic mediasuch as audio, animation, video or media related toother sensory modalities.



NEED FOR MOBILE PHONE UI ERGONOMICS

• Mobile phones are used widely nowadays, and the general very important in the app selection and adoption process.

• An ergonomic, easy to use app is preferred, and often theythe most downloaded and used apps.

• The figure beside illustrates

the growing rate of time thatsmartphone users spend withtheir apps over the past year



DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MOBILE & NON-MO

There are a few points that create a huge difference betwdesigning aspects of a mobile and non-mobile UI.

The differences occur because of the following main rea

• Change in input method

• Change in usage environment

• Change in device form factor



THE DIFFERENCE IT IMPLIES

Change in input method• The MIT Touch Lab study of “Human

Fingertips to Investigate the Mechanics ofTactile Sense” found that the averagehuman finger pad is 10–14mm and theaverage fingertip is 8–10mm.

• iPhone Human InterfaceGuidelines, Apple recommends a minimumtarget size

of 44 pixels by 44 pixels (88px onretina display) or about 8mm round.

http://uxmag.com/topics/apple





• The thumb has limited reach and range,therefore UIs should be adapted to thatrange.

• The thumb shouldn’t stretch too muchwhile reaching all areas of theapplication.

• All the main UI elements should beplaced in the area easily accessed by thethumb.



Change in usage environment

• Desktop devices are used indoors, mobile phones are unumber of areas with variable lighting and other condi

• Mobile apps should be have contrasting elements and

press buttons with tactile feedback to be able to read iconditions.



Change in device form factor

• A change in device form factor means a change in how wdevices.

• Different ways of holding devices prompts new points foextension, and UIs should be scaled accordingly



GENERAL UI DESIGN GUIDELINES



Consistency

• certain aspects of an interface should behave in consistall times for all screens

• terminology should be consistent between screens

• icons should be consistent between screens

• colors should be consistent between screens of similar



Simplicity

• break complex tasks into simpler tasks

• break long sequences into separate steps

• keep tasks easy by using icons, words etc.

• use icons/objects that are familiar to the user



Human Memory Limitations

• organize information into a small number of "chunks"

• try to create short linear sequences of tasks

• don't flash important information onto the screen for bperiods

• organize data fields to match user expectations, or to oinput (e.g. autoformatting phone numbers)

• provide cues/navigation aids for the user to know wherthe software or at what stage they are in an operation



Cognitive Directness

• minimize mental transformations of information (e.g. 'control+shift+esc+8' to indent a paragraph)

• use meaningful icons/letters

• use appropriate visual cues, such as direction arrows

• use 'real-world' metaphors whenever possible (e.g. desmetaphor, folder metaphor, trash can metaphor etc.)



System messages

• provide user-centered wording in messages (e.g. "there was a pcopying the file to your disk" rather than "execution error 159")

• avoid ambiguous messages (e.g. hit 'any' key to continue - thereand there's no need to hit a key, reword to say 'press the return kcontinue)

• avoid using threatening or alarming messages (e.g. fatal error, r job, catastrophic error)

• use specific, constructive words in error messages (e.g. avoid gemessages such as 'invalid entry' and use specifics such as 'pleasename')

• make the system 'take the blame' for errors (e.g. "illegal comma"unrecognized command")



Modality

• use modes cautiously - a mode is an interface state where wdoes has different actions than in other states (e.g. changinof the cursor can indicate whether the user is in an editing browsing mode)

• minimize preemptive modes, especially irreversible preema preemptive mode is one where the user must complete obefore proceeding to the next. In a preemptive mode othe

functions are inaccessible (e.g. file save dialog boxes)• make user actions easily reversible - use 'undo' commands,

sparingly

• allow escape routes from operations



Attention

• use attention grabbing techniques cautiously (e.g. avo'blinks' on web pages, flashing messages, 'you have macolors etc.)

• don't use more than 4 different font sizes per screen

•

use serif or sans serif fonts appropriately as the visual tdemands

• don't use all uppercase letters - use and uppercase/low

• don't overuse audio or video



• don't use more than 4 different colors on a screen

• don't use blue for text (hard to read), blue is a good ba

color• don't put red text on a blue background

• use high contrast color combinations

• use colors consistently

• use only 2 levels of intensity on a single screen

• Use underlining, bold, inverse video or other markers sp

• on text screens don't use more than 3 fonts on a single



Display metrics

• maintain display inertia - make sure the screen changes littscreen to the next within a functional task situation

• organize screen complexity

• eliminate unnecessary information

• use concise, unambiguous wording for instructions and me

• use easy to recognize icons

• use a balanced screen layout - don't put too much informatof the screen - try to balance information in each screen qu



REFERENCES

• http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/ahtutorials

• http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2014/09/16/applications-struggle-as-smartphone-users-spend-mowith-their-favorite-apps/

•

http://www.umpcportal.com/2011/08/a-critical-look-atinterface-and-ergonomics-of-android/

• The Mobile Frontier by Rachel Hinman

• http://uxmag.com/articles/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2014/09/16/new-applications-struggle-as-smartphone-users-spend-more-time-with-their-favorite-apps/



http://www.umpcportal.com/2011/08/a-critical-look-at-the-interface-and-ergonomics-of-android/


http://uxmag.com/articles/

http://uxmag.com/articles/














































THANK YOU

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