Using a device...

Consistency and efficiency are a means, not an end

Maintaining consistency – whether with desktop or other mobile products or even within the same product – is less important to creating a usable experience than simplicity and predictability.

Similarly, efficiency, while a good rule of thumb, can be an obstacle to design, especially when reducing the number of button presses is pursued overzealously. Button presses are not automatically “bad”; it is the button presses that the users must consciously attend to (thereby stealing their attention from their current task) that most negatively impact the user experience.

• Focus on providing a robust set of core features and functionality necessary to support the user’s key goals and work style

• Design the elements and their behaviors of the product to be predictable in any given context (e.g., the left soft key always being labeled “Back” and navigating back hierarchically, or having a “Submit” button on the screen for every form, etc.)

• Pressing the same button 3 times can be more usable than pressing two buttons one time each

dave@mobileixd.com

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