The usability of iPad apps and websites

About the research

The research is about the usability of iPad apps and websites. According to the report, the main purpose of the research was to access the state of iPad application design and understand where the user interaction pain points are. This is the second study based on the test a year ago. For the new study, the researchers tested 16 users with at least two months’ experience using their iPads, 14 of them were between 21-50 years old and two of them were older than 50.  They systematically tested 26 iPad apps and 6 websites. 

Two different methods are used during the research

The first one was usability testing. Researchers invited the users to do several tasks both using iPad apps and the websites, and then they conducted short interview related to the iPad using habits and then asked them to show some apps they already installed. I think the usability testing was the main part of the research because researchers got important data such as their using habits and from the users, and their feedbacks were reliable sources which helped researchers find the potential problems in the apps designs. The second one was expert reviews, which is the observations and recommendations from conducting the researchers’ own review of additional interfaces. This gave the researchers more direct views and meanwhile increases the credibility of the report.

The problem of the target size

In the report, different kinds of problems were found when users were using the iPad, and the issue drew my attention most was the target size in the section of touch screen and affordances. I believe this is one of the most common problems that almost everyone ever used an iPad may have confronted before. I also had such experience as the “fat finger” problem when I use some of the iPad apps. For instance, when I got an iPad last year I was first excited to discover the “piano” app in the app store so I downloaded it immediately. But after I started the app and tried to play a piano music by tapping the keys on the iPad screen, I found they were too small for me to tap them correctly. The sounds were easy to be mixed when I touched the edge of the keys. Even though the size of the keys could be changed, the scrolling button was also too small. So the target size is really an important factor of iPad apps which ensures the users to hit the desired targets efficiently and accurately.

The report also showed an example from USA Today, which contains several tiny targets

During the research, the participants, who were familiar with the app, tried very hard to press the small arrows in order to get to the next article while they ignored the alternative option, which was swiping the page. They found several problems of the design of the app page: the “home” button was too small and was easy to miss, and the arrow button was also too tiny for users to move to the next article, besides there was no clue about what the next article was about near the arrow, which maybe confuse the readers.  These problems may decrease the efficiency of the users so they have to do more works while reading the news. I believe that a good app have to bring convenience to the users and make their life simpler, thus explicit targets are crucial to a successful app. 

The examples in the reports show the importance of user-friendly targets

The Fitts’ Law from Human-Computer interaction (HCI) says that the time to reach the target is longer if the target is smaller. It is essential for app designers and publishers to know what kind of the target is most user-friendly. Sometime just making the app pages look pretty is not enough. The home screen of NASA app showed in the report, which was the beautiful image of the solar system, was really fascinating at the first glance. However it also had the problem of too tiny targets because some of the celestial bodies that were designed as the targets, such as Pluto, were too small to be tapped by human fingers. Users won’t be satisfied if the beautiful targets can’t be pressed easily. A good design of app targets will safe much of the users’ time and work. According to the report, research has shown that the best target size for widgets is 1cm x 1cm for touch devices, which means that many targets in the apps have to be replaced by more reasonable ones. 

Companies should do more researches about the touch screen and affordance before they design apps for their brands

There are many other factors that would strongly influence the quality of an app, such as crowing targets, padding, affordances, as well as input and registration. The companies should aware that compared to the websites, their apps have to bring more convenience to the customers. If they can solve the problems such as the complicated registration and the size of the targets, they will make more successful apps for their brands and attract more users. So how to improve the apps is always an important question for the companies to think about.