IntroductionOverview of This BookThis book is a practical, hands-on guide to designing applications for handheld electronic devices. Handheld devices, in the context of this book, are computing and communication devices that are usable and useful while held in one’s hands. These devices include email pagers, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and mobile telephone handsets. Laptop, palmtop, and tablet computers with large displays are not included, since they look and work like desktop computers. I start by discussing the differences between handhelds and the desktop. Following is an in-depth analysis of the components and features of handheld devices, including an overview of all current wireless communication standards, such as the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), i-mode, 802.11 (Wireless Fidelity, or Wi-Fi), and Bluetooth™. The second half of the book covers the disciplines of information architecture, rapid prototyping, and usability testing as they relate to handheld devices. Though it might appear these three disciplines are universal to both desktop and handheld products, designing handheld products is decidedly distinct from design for desktop computers. Application design for handheld devices is different from the design of desktop Web and software user interfaces. Handheld devices are used by people who are on the go, and the devices—as compared to desktop computers—have smaller displays, trickier input mechanisms, less memory and storage, and less powerful operating systems. Understanding these challenges is the first step toward designing great products for handheld devices. There are several good books about designing for the desktop web, and even more about designing desktop software. There are, however, few books that cover handheld products at all and even fewer that focus on user interface design for this medium. This book will enable you to accomplish the following:
Who Should Read This BookThis book is for designers and developers of applications for handheld devices. It assumes a working knowledge of the Web, mobile telephone handsets, and PDAs. It does not assume a working knowledge of technical specifications for the wireless Web, nor does it expect readers to be experienced in designing for the desktop Web or other platforms. How Does One Design For A Handheld Product?Understanding your audience is the first step. Knowing who they are and what they want to do helps you begin to understand their needs. People have instinctive ways of doing things. If someone is presented with a reasonable prototype and asked to do something with it, they will make an attempt. That attempt demonstrates their instinct and provides the designer with critical clues about how to design a product. In this book, methods for “usable design” are presented, including paper prototyping and usability testing. With product-specific user interface design guidelines and some practice, readers of this book will be able to design applications for any handheld device. Timeliness vs. TimelessnessThis book represents a “moment in time,” especially with regard to the discussion of Handheld Devices. The pace of technological innovation is extremely rapid. Devices come and go so quickly that some are barely noticed. Perhaps part of the reason that device designs are so temporary is that no valuable guides to designing for them currently exist. This book is my attempt to address that problem. Since the pace of design and development in the handheld arena has been so fast, many companies have reinvented the wheel, sometimes more than once. A glaring example of this problem is the lack of a standard layout for mobile telephone handset controls. The “Back” button is the most popular control in desktop Web browsing, but only a small fraction of the dozens of Internet-enabled handsets has one. Using the Web without the “Back” button is like using a word processor without being able to Undo. The result of these inconsistencies is a general lack of usability on most handheld devices. Learning about the different devices and their capabilities will enable you to design applications that are easy to use by themselves as well as with other applications found on the same platform. While technology and industrial design will march forward, this book’s chapters on Information Architecture, Prototyping, and Usability Testing will persevere. The principles and methods described here are timeless in scope. No book has been written about the design of handheld applications, a new discipline. Usability and Its ValueUsability is most easily defined as “ease of use.” Usability testing is the objective study of a product’s ease of use by watching people while they attempt to complete tasks. Whenever the test participants encounter difficulty with a particular task, there is a usability problem. Users who encounter difficulty are not “stupid”—bad design is. Planning usability testing as part of the design and development process makes economic good sense. Product designs that are evolved through usability evaluation prevent customer support calls and increase customer satisfaction. Happy users become loyal customers, and with so many handheld devices to choose from, usability can be a powerful distinguishing factor. Chapter BreakdownEach chapter in this book is intended to stand on its own. In other words, if you feel that you know enough about information architecture, then jump right to Usability Testing without hesitation. If you find that you are over your head, you can always step back to Information Architecture.
In addition to the chapters, there is a rich set of appendices to help you in your handheld device design, prototyping, and usability testing efforts:
ConclusionThis book shares with you methods of design, prototyping, usability testing, and documentation that I have worked to develop for twelve years. I have looked for many of these methods in print and not found them, despite some books’ promising titles. It is my sincere hope that Handheld Usability will help to bring about more enjoyable and easy to use applications for handheld devices. Author’s NoteI have been fascinated by handheld computing devices since the introduction of the TRS-80 Pocket Computer Model 100 in 1983. I was amazed that a computer could be carried around, since most of the computers available at that time were bulky table top models. The TRS-80 Model 100 had 24K of memory, a full QWERTY keyboard, a 240x64 pixel monochrome bitmapped display, and weighed about 3 pounds. Radio Shack was prescient enough to include a bar code reader and a modem, perhaps anticipating the use of handheld computers as information appliances. Model 100s are in use even today. You can read a timeline tracing the development of handheld devices in the Handheld History appendix of this book. The TRS-80 Model 100 of 1983 is a far cry from today’s hottest Palm OS communicators, which are mobile telephone headsets with the Palm OS platform built in. The Handspring Treo, with 16 megabytes of memory, a QWERTY keypad, and 160x160 pixel grayscale bitmapped display, weighs only 5.4 ounces (154 grams). It is also small enough to fit in a man’s shirt pocket. In exploring user interface design for these devices, I researched the available design guidelines for applications on all of the available handheld device platforms. Finding only limited product-specific guidelines and technical programming information, the opportunity to research and write about designing for handhelds presented itself. I am pleased to offer you this book as the result. About the AuthorScott Weiss (sweiss@usableproducts.com) is the Principal of Usable Products Company, the industry leader in the field of handheld device information architecture and usability testing. Usable Products has helped Sprint, Dun & Bradstreet, Intel, Chase, GlaxoSmithKline, and many others with the information architecture and usability needs since 1996. Scott’s design work on Apple’s Macintosh System 7 and Microsoft’s Windows 95 can be seen on more than 90 percent of computer desktops worldwide. In a career that has spanned desktop software and the Web, Scott has consulted, taught, and lectured extensively on usability and information architecture for handheld devices, desktop software, and the Web. Scott holds a degree in Human Interface Design from Stanford University. He lives in New York City with his bearded collie, Midge. AcknowledgementsThis book was a project not just for me, but for my employees, consultants, friends, and colleagues, all of whom contributed by providing feedback and moral support throughout the writing and editing process. I started this project soon after returning from the 2001 annual meeting of the Association of Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIG-CHI). Through everyone’s incredible efforts, this book will be out in time for the 2002 annual SIG-CHI meeting. First and foremost, I would like to thank Hira Murtaza for her excellent illustrations. Her work brings beauty and clarity to this material. Jerry Weinstein was an invaluable muse and editorial assistant. Robert Eisenhauer and Richard Martin, who work with me at Usable Products, were invaluable in their input and management of much of the editing process. Both Rich and Robert managed the extensive permissions necessary for including device and software photographs, and Rich conducted extensive research for Handheld History. I would also like to thank Karen Mossman and Jill Jeffries, my editors at Wiley, for their encouragement. Kent Sullivan of Microsoft was kind to make referrals to members of the Pocket PC team. Alastair France of Openwave demonstrated the new Openwave browser at a meeting in London, far from his work and family. His technical prowess rescued a meeting of the Wireless Roundtable. Mark Taguchi of Openwave met with me to discuss the GSM’s M-Services Guidelines. Erin Davis set up an interview with Calin Pacurariu, the Handspring Treo Product Manager. Calin Pacurariu was kind to take the time to meet with me about the Handspring Treo. Richard Weeks provided insight, information, and referrals. Eli Katz helped edit this Introduction. I would like to thank Maria Sääksjärvi for sending content through the mail, and Clifford Nass and Ing-Marie Jonson for their contributions. Eddie Gomez provided his insights into usability of Windows CE-based tablet hardware and software. Kylie Trevitt prepared an excellent history of Openwave. Joshua Seiden provided helpful links for Information Architecture Practice as well as for Handheld History. Robert Moritz, of Sprint PCS, answered many technical questions. Christie Hardin of the Motorola Media Intelligence Center helped gather information for the Handheld History section, as well as helping with equipment evaluation requests and fulfillment. Courtney Flaherty helped with information about and an evaluation of the RIM Wireless Handhelds™. Scott Jenson answered questions about Symbian OS. Joan Schnorbus answered questions about UPS. Andrew Hicks helped resolve confusion about the Ericsson R380 communicator. Adam Tow answered questions about the Apple Newton. Del Penny sent 35 mm slides of the Apple II and Newton 2100. And Midge, my faithful companion, kept me company all the while. |