Hamburger menu alternatives for mobile navigation. My personal favorite has always been “Priority+” which this article calls a “progressively collapsing” menu. Really makes you focus on the top 3-4 most important items.
Dropdowns Should be the UI of Last Resort
Some great details and examples from Luke W. of optimizing web forms for mobile entry. Main focus of this article is that standard dropdowns should be the UI of last resort. Going with a mobile-optimized option like a toggle, steppers, or custom solution can simplify mobile forms and improve conversation rates.
Tesla Apple Watch app
Eleks Labs has written up a really interesting look at their Tesla Apple Watch app. The walkthrough of the process and technical details is a good read for anyone interested in doing their own Apple Watch work. Both their UX decisions and workarounds due to technical limitations seem like they’re going to be valuable lessons.
UX Check Google Chrome extension
Interesting tool. UX Check is a Chrome Extension that helps you identify usability issues through a heuristic evaluation.
A better infinite scroll?
Google has a new blog post up with their recommendations for implementing infinite scrolling. Also be sure to check out the demo page.
Google’s tips and examples address SEO concerns with this feature, but don’t really address the possible user experience issues it introduces. As someone who is lucky enough to observe and work with actual users during usability testing, I’m not sure there is such a thing as a “good” infinite scrolling technique right now.
At least with this example the back button works as expected but I’m still not sure the positives outweigh the confusion infinite scrolling always seems to introduce. As with pretty much every UX issue, this of course depends depends on your audience and content. Like any other feature, get it in front of real users and test, test, test.
Awesome mobile UX idea for floating form labels
Awesome mobile UX idea for floating form labels from Dribbble. Example code is also up on Github.
Accessibility expert warns: stop using carousels
Should you use a carousel on your website? No. Why not? Because testing shows they don’t actually work.
Gamify your tip jar
Instagram photo from JeremyJohnson at Freebirds
Mobile Users Don’t Do That
There are many common misconceptions about mobile web and app design. The most pervasive of these usually center around assumptions about where, when, and how people use mobile devices. Making any assumptions about what your visitors will or won’t do just because they’re on a mobile device will have you headed down the wrong path.
“Mobile users won’t want to do that, they’re ‘on the go’ and will be in a hurry or want a quick distraction.”
Mobile user experience expert Stephanie Rieger has written a great blog post busting some of those myths about the “typical” mobile user. People don’t just use their smartphones while on the go. They use them throughout their daily lives. They use them in quick bursts and for long stretches of engaged reading. They use them while distracted by the TV, traffic, the kids, or by nothing at all. Assuming your mobile visitors will always want to do less on your site just because of the device they’re using is a huge (and common) mistake.
Of course a good number of users will be looking to get in and back out accomplishing their task as quickly as possible. Your mobile experience (and your desktop site too by the way) should feature these common tasks and make them as easy as possible to use. But that doesn’t mean you should remove content or features that some of your best users are interested in.
As Stephanie puts it in her article, if a user is willing to suffer through a complex or broken feature on their tiny screen they’re either desperate or one of your power users. Two groups that have higher conversion rates than most. Don’t prevent them from doing what they want to do by removing the complicated feature from your mobile site, make it easier to accomplish.
Content Choreography – Content Strategy in a Responsive World
Trent Walton has written (and designed) a great (and beautiful) article on dealing with content in responsive web designs that adapt to the width of visitors’ browsers. Content Choreography is a good discussion of content organization, changing designs too much between various widths, and the workflow needed when creating responsive web sites. Definitely a must read for any designer or developer.