Lessons From Mobile

People don't use desktop computers any more. That's because people can't sit still, liberated by their pocket-computers that double as a mobile phone. An exaggeration, slightly — people still sit at their desk and accomplish something using laptops from time to time. We must offer mobile UI support to stay relevant. The intricacies of several mobile platforms that suit the likes of these users may be a learning requirement. That isn't so bad. These technologies are improving at an impassioned pace. Probably in part due to the increased number of eyeballs scrutinizing the quality of these mobile systems. So unless you're a start-up company as of the last couple years, you've probably got user interface assets that are essentially worthless in the mobile realm.

What can we do with these clunky UIs, designed for devices that offer better resolution than they should? Can we keep our die hard desktop user base — the ones who prefer to type using more than two thumbs and an index finger — happy with our software? My take on this is that when it comes to production systems we've poured effort into, we shouldn't submit to the mobile mentality so easily. Instead, we should borrow some UI ideas from the mobile space and run with them in our more traditional UI space.

Mobile Downsizing
The obvious difference between a mobile user interface and one that runs on a larger device is the lack of space in the former. We simply don't have enough room on a phone to place widgets that would otherwise work well together. If you've ever tried using a site from a mobile phone that doesn't support these types of devices, the site is essentially meaningless. You have to constantly zoom in and zoom out for an aspect ration your eyes can handle. This experience for mobile users is so frustrating that they'll likely never return to the site — using their phone or their laptop.

Mobile user interfaces have grown to encompass more than simply offering a better user experience than your competitors. The mobile market is still an emerging phenomenon — but a fast growing one to say the least. Therefore, you cannot, as a company, afford to drive users away from your application. With any new technology, it seems as though the early adopters take anything that doesn't align exactly with their new found love as an insult. In other words, it's important to get your mobile UI right. It's important to get any UI right as that is the face, the first impression of your software.

Not offering customers any kind of mobile gateway into your company is the epitome of a missed opportunity. Of course, there is the notion that you're really not catering to that kind of crowd, but that's a difficult statement to make with any sincerity given the momentum mobile has at the moment. It doesn't take much to anger a handful of people glued to their phones. You don't want that because if you're providing a bad experience from their perspective, or no experience at all, it won't be long till that number grows. People aren't saying they've had enough with the small screen — they've had enough with software that doesn't work properly in it.

Such is the new personality dynamic we're presented with for our user interfaces. I think we need to stop and think for a moment what mobile really means. We tend to use mobile as a label to categorize applications that run on a certain kind of device when really, we ought to start focusing in on the shifting needs of the person who is mobile. What are these people doing while simultaneously interacting with your UI? What mistakes is the user likely to make because of either mobile input devices or the fact that the user isn't sitting down. Your mobile UI doesn't not have the user's full attention.

Such factors make for an interesting design challenge. At the same time though, it's a problem that becomes simpler due to our lack of real estate. There are less choices, less information, less things the user needs to hone in on and burn extra mental cycles. As a result, when we look at a mobile UI that has a minimal set of moving parts, we don't actually look — we glance and act. Glance and act. A pattern that fits nicely, I think, with someone making their way to a train platform.

Moving Back Up
Do we ever really think about taking the lessons from developing mobile user interfaces and applying them to our desktop displays? Mobile is relatively new — desktops have been around for a while, and so it seems only natural that we want to take our existing applications and port them. Our user interfaces are packed full of goodies, how can we make them work on a phone?

The problem is, I don't think we should necessarily try and move everything onto a new platform. It often results in creating a new UI anyway — one specifically targeted for a particular device, or class of device. Not because we've recognized the mistakes in our layouts, that our UI is somewhat bloated, but because we simply can't fit them. When you cannot fit everything your standard desktop UI has to offer onto a phone screen, it isn't a travesty. It's an opportunity. You don't need to carry forward mistakes from the past.

The opportunity extends in the backward direction too — from mobile to the desktop. Successful delivery of a mobile application means that you've probably experienced some of the interesting problems that go with that flavour of development. The need to consider extreme attention deficits, combined with a lack of real estate. Perhaps some of these lessons apply to your legacy software. Maybe the desktop UI doesn't need that widget that you assumed you couldn't do without. Use your mobile application as a guide in simplicity. If you're getting positive feedback, and the user can get done what needs doing, that can well indicate what your larger user interface doesn't need.

There's A Web Page For that

Yep, there's a web page for that, a ton of them. The one thing you need, a currency calculator, a CSS generator, there are probably five different web pages fit for the job. How useful are these web pages on mobile devices? It seems that applications native to the mobile hardware replace the browser entirely. These apps don't work everywhere - you don't see the same code running on iPad, Android, and BlackBerry. Each application that runs on a phone, if you can still get away with calling it a phone, is tailored to the hardware. Is this really a big deal to the user? Is the device-specific experience really that much better than something running in the browser? Currently, yes. Web stuff for mobile doesn't quite make the grade comparatively. No, there isn't always a mobile web page for that. But there will be.

What are web pages for? Information, of course. Well, I'd say the vast majority of web pages are about sending a message to an audience. However, plenty of web sites are currently transforming their content - or at least thinking about it - into something that's more like the desktop application experience. This is what users want, and so us software creators must have a pretty good reason to not deliver.

Why the change? Our websites never used to have trouble engaging with users. Why all the fuss over user admonition? The short answer is because we can. If a company selling widgets has an opportunity to hear the assessments of current and prospective customers, they'll take it. In fact, they're going to encourage users to submit any feedback. There is no such thing as a customer giving bad information to a company about their product. I mean, yes, there will be the odd loudmouth who does nothing but criticize, but this is nothing new. We've got to deal with those types even if we don't operate on the web.

We've got a bidirectional channel for businesses – much more effective than television. Rather than pushing out information, hoping people are watching, it's always available your clients seek it. If you want immediate feedback, provide your consumers with the appropriate tools.

Applications that don't utilize the web as a data repository aren't modern in any sense. We need applications that access the web, otherwise, users can't provide their feedback. We'd be crazy not to, right? If an online store, selling say, music, isn't hearing about each customer's unique experience, why might that be? Maybe they simply don't feel enticed to respond, probably because it takes more effort than it's worth. The question is, how to we make these feedback tools seamless to the point of being irresistible to the viewer? This is interesting to think about, especially in a mobile context where things suddenly aren't so straightforward.

Web pages aren't universal. Not anymore. We're really good at building just about any kind of application for the web, just as long as you build it for desktop and laptop browsers. Even some tablets do a decent enough job of displaying your retro backwardness that is 1.0. The rest of your users don't have the luxury of a larger display. To them, viewing pages on your site is like trying to plot a route on a map while looking through a magnifying glass pressed against it. It's a little unpleasant.

How do these web pages become a little more tolerable for the mobile audience? After all, we want to capture everything they're willing to tell us – we've got to make this as simple as possible. The answer in the mobile domain is apps. Users love their devices, and filling them with software amends their utility. What good is a smart phone without hundreds of applications installed? It isn't actually easier for users to interact with your mobile application, relative to your mobile web page that does the same thing. The application, once installed, feels like part of the device. That might seem too obvious, all software controls the hardware. This is no different from software installed on our desktop computers – new software extends the capabilities of the hardware. And since its installed locally, we've just expanded the capability of our hardware. There is something about the intuitiveness of desktop software. This is where mobile applications have an edge – they truly become one with the device for which they're built.

Why can't web applications do the same? Why can't they mesh well with the hardware they're delivered to? They can, and do. The trouble is that there simply isn't enough of them. There is a strong argument for developers to build web user interfaces for mobile users. Its the same argument for building web applications for desktop users – supporting several platforms is a major headache. Supporting multiple desktop platforms and multiple mobile platforms is simply out of the question for most folks. We've got to overcome the obstacle of unfamiliarity. Users want to install things, they want a level of assurance, knowing the tool will reliably get the job done.

The question is, can we give users this same level of comfort, the intuitive feeling that the web user interface is somehow part of the device. I think so. As long as they're able to launch it as they would any other native application. A little icon, part of a start-up menu, whatever the environment dictates, it just needs to mesh well.

Over time, I'd say over the next few years, we'll see web user interfaces become the standard. Apps won't go away entirely, there will always be a need for something specialized that no browser can support. However, the roles will shift – the browser will become the default user interface environment, desktop software the fallback. So yes, it's important that users feel comfortable using their software no matter the device. Software that's intuitive always comes out on top. As little as five years ago, web applications for the desktop weren't anywhere close to native desktop applications. All that's changed now – there is still a need for specialized desktop applications, but browser-based user interfaces are the first choice for a lot of developers now. I think this same transformation will happen with the mobile market sooner rather than later.