Mobile Interfaces and Design
Just like my classmates, I too have wondered when we would touch on this topic and I am glad we did. It is the perfect way to wrap up this course. Children, just like many adults, have a hard time using particular applications. I have had trouble with several applications that I have downloaded for my studies in speech language pathology as well as my clinical experiences. Some of the students I work with cannot figure out how to work the application or have a very difficult time using it.
Jakob Nielsen’s article, iPad Usability: Year One, discusses the changes in iPad applications within the year. However, with all these advancements and upgrades in these applications, some problems arise. A common problem that has occurred with these applications is the “accidental touch” on applications. In some cases, it is very difficult to get back to the same page or spot on an application without having to restart the app itself. This occurs mainly because of how small the touch areas are in applications. I am one of these people. When certain things on websites are too small, its very easy to click on the wrong tab or button. This happens especially when I am on ecampus on Safari. I always end up clicking the wrong icons. As Nielsen mentions, there is an “increasing the risk of touching the wrong one.” This article also looks at research studies that were conducted on iPad applications and discuss the changes in each study. This allows readers to see how people who are unfamiliar with the iPad navigate through apps versus people who are relatively family with the iPad. Too much navigation, referred to in this article as TMN, also supports the main problem addressed by the author. When a person has to navigate or click multiple icons to get to one location, it becomes very tedious. Therefore, applications must be modified to allow for easy accessibility. If we become more aware of these limitations, we can find ways to avoid them or make up for the items that the application lacks.
Van der Mere’s article, “Dad’s plea to developers of iPad apps for children,” emphasizes important concepts that we, as future educators, need to be aware of. The idea of affordance is important because, like Van der Mere says, “give the elements…a characteristics that indicates they are touchable.” If there is no indication or direction of what to, the student or child will just be staring at the screen waiting for something to happen. When the author mentioned the app “Talking Tom Cat,” I knew right then and there what direction he was going with that reference. Children automatically see an icon and click it and five minutes later you’ll realize that they just bought extras on the application that go right to your credit card.
As a few of my classmates have mentioned already, applications that are free tend to have the most advertisements. Pandora, for example, is one of those applications. There are only so many skips you can make for songs and ads cannot be skipped. However, Pandora One doesn’t have advertisements and forces the listener to purchase the application rather than using the free one. This also applies to most free games on iPhones. I have had to call Apple numerous times to explain that children who use my iPhone or iPad have made accidental purchases so I can have the charge waived. This relates to the concept of “accidental activation” mentioned in Nielsen’s article.
Applications for children should be designed differently from those for adults. There needs to be a distinction of buttons because if there isn’t, children will just keep tapping away and the charges will keep adding up.