Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

Below you will find notes from a session attended. The notes below will be interesting to those interested in next generation devices, user centered design and people who can better explain Fitts Law.  

The next generation of the web isn't going to be on your desktop, it may not even be on your mobile device. Context is going to be increasingly important and Nick Finck of Blue Flavor will take you through the process of designing and architecting for context as well as creating sites and apps that work regardless of the context. He will step through the elements of context and what is critical to think about when considering your user's environment, interface, display, task, skill level, and more.

• Nick Finck (Publisher, Digital Web Magazine)

Engaging conversation about how to design beyond the current devices.

Things to consider:
The user - what are they trying to accomplish, third party systems, paperwork, materials, tools you have to use to input information. Also people that are not using the system but are immediately affected by it and experiencing the same thing the user is experienceing for instance patients and doctors.

The environment - everyone does not have the same environment. Some environments are quite hectic even though your environment may not be.

The technology - the Web will be on all sorts of appliances - using Google maps on the gas pump. Looking for recipes on the Web on your refrigerator. Microsoft Surface- ordering lunch from a table top.

Much of the conversation focused on the iPhone, but these learnings can be applied to any traditional or non-traditional Web site.

The type of information you are looking for in a mobile experience is different. You may not want to learn about different types of tea - you just want to determine what store you need to go to to buy it.

Fitts Law - the process acquiring the target - how big the space is and how far away it is. Make the target space as big as possible. Doesn't matter where on the tab you clicked it - you can still get to it. (I have not had a lot of experience with this concept - would love to hear any additional insight. I believe I understand the concept, but do not think my description or the description on Wikipedia are easy enough to understand without someone walking you through it). 

Mobile stylesheets are good, but they are not always available to the user. BlueFavor created a scaled down version of the NY Times for mobile devices. It only takes 7 second download the NY Times scaled back verison. The real NY Times takes 30 seconds. This makes a big difference when you are getting charged by the second. NYT has a mobile stylesheet, but the site does not have detection to know if you are coming from a mobile device.

When designing, consider the optimal user interface. An Optimized UI will adapt itself to the medium. Things not related to the mobile experience are removed.

Perform contextual inquiries, a UCD approach that happen early in the project to be effective.

• You can see what you want to click on, it's just really hard to get to it to click on it. Make the hot spots really big. Make the whole summary of the NY Times article clickable.
• Ajax is really helpful on mobile devices.
  
• Search ahead functionality is really helpful.
  
• You may have to tweak the buttons for the mobile device.
  
• Make phone numbers clickable so that you can call from them. It is easy to do and helpful for the user.
• Netflix is great on a mobile device.
  
• Facebook does a good job with anticipating next steps in a large user friendly way.
• Consider the screen size.

For right now, continue to consider gas pumps and Microsoft surface projects but a lot of people are not using it yet. Interactive Plasma screens are being used a lot more.

Images - how to display and code for them on mobile devices - viewing them, not an editor. On a phone I will not be as interested in photos as I would be looking at it on the desktop.

Look to the banking industry and airline industry as leaders. Forms for mobile devices are a whole other topic.

Blueflavor.com nick@blueflavor.com