Page 19 - index

A bunch of practical tips for an optimal
mobile usability
Besides high quality standards in
content, the usability of reading
news on mobile devices is decisive
to gain traction in an attractive and
wide-reaching advertising environ-
ment for mobile campaigns pre-
ferred by users.
Take a look at the following tips on
how a mobile website should be
designed to be most useful and
marketable:
 Keep navigation compact:
Especially when on the go, mo-
bile users jump quickly from one
subject to another on news por-
tals, hence, the navigation
should be intelligible and com-
pact, allowing users to switch  Make operating elements vis-
easily to any topic on the page
they are interested in.
 Allow shortcuts: Shortcuts to
the main categories are particu-
larly important, as they bring the
user effortlessly and directly to
the latest and most popular con-
tent of the mobile page. Keep in
mind that at the end of the arti-  Offer swipe gestures for
cle pages, cross-links are gen-
erally in high demand.
 Always offer new and fresh
content: Already on the landing
page, users expect to get a
quick and informative overview
of all current content. The latest
news and direct links to the
newest content should be dis-
played right at the top of the
page to facilitate a rapid news
overview.
 Ensure operability via touch:
The input via touch requires a
more tidy and simplistic web
design than on the desktop. All
interaction elements should be  Align the layout with the use
large enough to comfortably be
handled with your fingers,
hence, a physical size of at
BEST PRACTICES & STRATEGIES
least 7x7 mm with intervals of for the small smartphone
at least 2 mm is recommended. screen.
Hence, the images should be
ible: While users generally rec- easily recognizable, but never
ognize all clickable elements take up the entire visible range.
quite quickly, touch interaction
elements still have to be  Select a clear caption: To
learned by many. Therefore, on make the reading of the mobile
mobile pages it should be made page as pleasant as possible,
clear, which elements are func- the clearest possible typeface
tional and what is behind them. should be chosen. Of course,
even the font size must be
adapted to the small size of the
scrolling feature: By now, smartphone.
most smartphone users expect
the swipe gesture for the scroll  Offer easy sub-functions:
function. However, the feature Sharing information with friends
is only fun, if it is intuitive and is just as important on the
works smoothly. smartphone as on the desktop.
Therefore, all relevant "sharing"
 Keep the load times short: functions should be easy to find
Generally, it is all about getting and easy to use on mobile as
quick access to information, well.
therefore, the loading times Hopefully, these few tips will help
should be kept as short as pos-
sible. For this purpose, it is rec- you to catch up to mobile users’
ommended not to display con- expectations and encourages you to
tent immediately in full length make your content mobile-friendly
but upload only as much as sooner rather than later, if not al-
needed. ready done so, especially since
their number will only be increasing
in the course of time. ◊
of the smartphone: A good By Daniela La Marca
mix and a reasonable size of
image and text are preferable
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