While most apps have made big strides in overall usability in the year since the iPad's debut, many of the apps covered in the study still had suboptimal user interfaces that in many cases seem to sacrifice ease of use in favor of good looks. Overall, the biggest UI problem present in the studied apps was inconsistent or obscure navigation controls.
Nielsen Norman first encourages would-be app developers to ask themselves if their site or service needed an iPad app in the first place. "If your service requires substantial interaction, consider an app instead of a site," the Group says. However, a poorly-designed app will sabotage that increased interactivity potential.
Study participants were always successful in completing assigned tasks in Mobile Safari, but when asked to complete the same tasks in a standalone iPad app, participants failed to complete tasks a third of the time. Participants weren't iPad newbies either, having owned the device for a minimum of two months. This shows that many apps still have a long way to go in crafting a UI that's accessible and comprehensible to all users.
Read on to find out what the Nielsen Norman Group recommends for enhancing the usability of both iPad-optimized websites and iPad apps.
Continue reading Usability study finds many iPad apps still need to work on their UI
Usability study finds many iPad apps still need to work on their UI originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 27 May 2011 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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