Sliding Tabs.....Use it or Avoid it?

Sliding tabs are the ones that are shown below with 3 possible interactions. Sliding tabs are used when the content shown could be divided into different sections. 

1. Tapping on the Tab

2. Swipe on the Tab bar

3. Swipe on content area

Is it a good idea to use the sliding tabs on a mobile screen? There could be both horizontal sliding and also vertical sliding. How intuitive are these interactions and will it enhance or effect the user experience?? 

It could be difficult to even slide the tabs in the tab bar as shown in the below screen:

  

Magical Preview of new iOS 5 features !!! :P

Want to have a sneak into the new iOS 5 features? Enjoy this magical video :)

Gestures !!!

Interactions with interfaces have been changing from past few years. During the initial days of mobile phones, all the interactions with the mobile screen was by using the hard buttons on the device. Then came in the Resistive touch screens that used  a single touch interaction by using either the finger or the stylus. Recent innovations in the touch based user interfaces, such as Capacitive, Amoled, Super Amoled touch screens, have changed the paradigm of the way the user interacts with the interfaces and the data.


The ways with which the user interacts with the interface and hence the data are called Gestures. Few gestures are common across different devices / platforms and few are unique to the platform. Here are couple of resources that have a whole list of different gestures, both common and/or unique across different platforms.

1. Gesture Cons
2. Touch Gesture Reference Guide  

Gesture Cons

   

Android UI Design and Interaction Patterns

I have recently been studying the user interface design and interaction patterns for Android. Unlike iOS, which has clearly laid our the Human Interface Guidelines that can be used by both designers and developers, Android doesn't have such guidelines document. The Android User Interface Guidelines and the Google I/O videos provided in the Android Developers site are more targeted to developers who design their own apps. 


Being a mobile UX designer, I have 2 sources that helped me a lot in learning and understanding different design patterns and interaction patterns. These sources have covered almost all the different patterns and the usage of  different UI controls, with examples. Below are the links that may be helpful to you too.

1. Android Interaction Design Patterns
2. Android UI Design Patterns

Few Android Tablet apps worth exploring !!!

Google has launched Honey Comb (Android 3.0) early this year in Feb 2011, with latest revisions being 3.1 and 3.2. Honey Comb is especially made for tablets. I have collected few apps worth downloading, especially apps such as CNN, Pulse, Angry Birds, Androidify, IMDB etc... Below are the links. 

1. http://www.techradar.com/news/tablets/mobile-computing/top-30-best-android-3-0-apps-941484?src=rss&attr=all 
2. http://www.pcworld.com/article/236660/11_best_free_android_tablet_apps_for_newbies.html
3. http://www.androidauthority.com/best-apps-for-motorola-xoom-android-tablet-10796/
4. http://www.businessinsider.com/android-honeycomb-tablet-apps-2011-3#cnn-app-for-android-1

App Inventor: Develop Android apps....with no programming background !!!

 Do you wanna build Android Apps? Don'h have programming background ? Google has launched Android App Inventor, which is a great web based tool to easily develop Android apps with no programming skills required. This tool was the idea of Prof. Hal Abelson from MIT and Google took the step to build it.



App Inventor has a Designer environment and a Block Editor environment. Using the Designer environment, one can simply drag and drop the UI elements on to the screen and design the app. Images, media files, different UI elements and controls can be added the screen by simple drag and drops.

App Designer

The Block Editor is the place where one can bind the logical actions to be taken on the screen, for example the action to be taken after clicking a button. This doesn't require an programming knowledge. Once the blocks are connected, the app can be run on a connected Android phone / an emulator.

App Inventor Diagram

App Inventor - Definitely worth trying.....to learn more about the limitations and scalability, visit the App Inventor site in the Google labs.

Smart Phone OS Market Share....Interesting Forecast

I have always been interested in designing for mobiles/smart phones. Mobile thinking has been changing from past few years. I first started designing for Windows Mobile 5.0 and Symbian. From past few years new operating systems have evolved and capture the market share to a large extent. I recently came across the below forecast in a blog from www.mobiaccess.com.  

www.mobiaccess.com

It is interesting to note how Android and iOS have been picking up the market share, especially Android from almost 3.9% to 38% till date. Where as all the other operating systems have been losing the market share, especially Symbian falling from 46.9% in 2009 to 19.2% till date and as per the forecast will become almost obsolete. So certainly Android and iOS are the future, followed by Windows Phone.