How do users know to turn the phone?
Paul Cantrell
something when you rotate the phone?
We've got a tabbed app that runs in portrait, where just one tab has a
landscape mode. We're afraid users will never discover it.
Thoughts?
Cheers,
Paul
Dan Grigsby
In almost every app that I've used that has two modes I've been
surprised to learn there was another orientation. I had to watch an
Apple video to learn that there's a scientific calculator hidden in
the calculator and all you need to do it pivot. In the two other apps
that I can think of think of that have those modes I knew there was a
feature but couldn't figure out where to find it and guessed that
perhaps it would be accessible by a pivot: cover-flow in Pandora and
the weight charts in Weightbot.
I've seen a similar problem with shake functions. One of my favorite
apps, the DOT charting app Instaviz, uses shake to delete an object.
I had to search it out in the documentation.
In all of these cases there was functionality that I knew existed and
made the effort to unearth. It wasn't just an change of orientation
for existing functionality.
Finally, the Mobile Human Interface Guideline says, "Avoid creating a
control or defining a gesture that tells users to rotate the device."
None of this helpful. Hrmph.
-Dan
Mobile Orchard
Top-ranked iPhone Developer News Site and Podcast
http://www.mobileorchard.com
Paul Cantrell
none of it helpful.
I feel like the only reason people know about cover flow in the iPod
app is because Steve Jobs told them about it.
P
Neil Mix
as a result. The iPod app would mysteriously switching into coverflow
mode on me, and I had no idea how to get out! It is completely opaque
if you haven't previously been educated about the behavior.
My info:
Work: http://www.pandora.com/
Play: http://www.neilmix.com/
Jeremy
You could add an icon that shows a 'rotate me' arrow. This would appear
when there is different functionality available in the other orientation.
Likewise for shake, you could have a 'shake icon' that appears, with a
mouseover-driven bubble to explain what it does.
Jeremy
Paul Cantrell
accepted solution.
I don't like have little "decode me" icons and explanatory popups
cluttering my interface, but it sounds like something along the lines
of Jeremy's suggestion is the only solution — either that, or leave it
undocumented and hope.
P
Dan Grigsby
This brings up an idea I've wanted to implement: I want an automated
user-usage feedback tool.
Microsoft has a system called SQM (Software Quality Metrics)/CEIP
(Customer Experience Improvement Program") that, after an opt-in,
sends anonymized usage stats for them to help improve their apps. For
example, if tens of millions of people are regularly using the same
menu-sequences over and over they'd like to detect this and add a
button to a toolbar to make it easier.
I talk with a ton of app developers and *nobody* knows which features
in their apps people are using. You could use Matt Gallagher's view-
introspection goodness[1] as a starting point. Use this stuff to grab
the state of the screen at useful intervals. Store-and-forward them
back to a server for reporting.
[1]http://cocoawithlove.com/2008/11/automated-user-interface-testing-on.html
Paul could ship his app without any hint icons (inline with the HIG)
and if it lies largely undiscovered then you could put in hints (out
of line with the HIG).
Pete Schwamb
idea that your app responds to orientation. Make sure you put up
screen shots of your app in its various orientations on the app store,
and link in a demo video of someone using your app and doing the
rotation. It's not as "in your face" as putting up buttons on the UI,
but it should get *some* exposure.
-Pete
John Sheets
This brings up an idea I've wanted to implement: I want an automated
user-usage feedback tool.
"The Internet is not something you just dump something
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Paul Cantrell
P
On Mar 16, 2009, at 10:04 AM, Dan Grigsby wrote:
>