Mobile Usability

Product Author Bios

Jakob Nielsen, Ph.D., is a principal of Nielsen Norman Group and founder of the “discount usability engineering” movement, emphasizing fast and efficient methods for improving the quality of user interfaces. Dr. Nielsen has been called, “the world’s leading expert on Web usability” by U.S. News and World Report and “the next best thing to a true time machine” by USA Today. He is the author of numerous best-selling books, including Prioritizing Web Usability, Eyetracking Usability, and the groundbreaking Designing Web Usability, which has sold more than 250,000 copies and has been translated in 22 languages.

Raluca Budiu, Ph.D. is a user experience specialist with Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g). She consults for clients from a variety of industries and presents tutorials on mobile usability, usability of touch devices, cognitive psychology for designers, and principles of human computer interaction. She has authored several NN/g reports and published numerous articles on HCI topics.

How do we create a satisfactory user experience when limited to a small device? This new guide focuses on usability for mobile devices, primarily smartphones and touchphones, and covers such topics as developing a mobile strategy, designing for small screens, writing for mobile, usability comparisons, and looking toward the future. The book includes 228-full color illustrations to demonstrate the points.

Based on expert reviews and international studies with participants ranging from students to early technology adopters and business people using websites on a variety of mobile devices, this guide offers a complete look at the landscape for a mobile world.

Author Jakob Nielsen is considered one of the world's leading experts on Web usability. He is the author of numerous best-selling books, including Prioritizing Web Usability and the groundbreaking Designing Web Usability, which has sold more than 250,000 copies and has been translated in 22 languages.

Table of Contents

0.    Preface

1.    Our Research How we ran the studies

2.    Mobile Strategy
Mobile Web 2009 = Desktop Web 1998
Sidebar: Mouse vs. Fingers as Input Device
Mobile UX Sharpens Usability Guidelines
iPhone Apps Need Low Starting Hurdles
Mobile Sites vs. Apps: The Coming Strategy Shift
Sidebar: Mobile Intranets
Mobile Site vs. Full Site

3.    Designing for the small screen
Mobile Usability Findings
Utilize Available Screen Space
Browser and GUI Chrome
Optimizing a Screen for Mobile Use
Why WSJ Mobile App Gets ** Customer Reviews
Overloaded vs. Generic Commands


4.   Writing for Mobile
Mobile Content: If in Doubt, Leave It Out
Defer Secondary Content When Writing for Mobile Users
Mobile Content Is Twice as Difficult
Mini-IA: Structuring the Information About a Concept
Bylines for Web Articles?

5.   Tablets and e-readers
iPad Usability: Findings From User Testing
Kindle Usability Review
Kindle Fire Usability Findings
iPad and Kindle Reading Speeds
Kindle Content Design

6. Looking toward the future
In the Future, We'll All Be Harry Potter
Transmedia Design for the 3 Screens (Make That 5)
Stationary Mobility

7. Appendix: A bit of history
WAP Field Study Findings
Mobile Phones: Europe's Next Minitel?