The dawn of a new era of computing has begun. The launch of the iPad has given the tech geeks a new war to wage. Add it to the list of Mac vs PC, PHP vs .Net, etc.. The new war is now tablets versus netbooks/desktops/laptops. From the standpoint of Monkeyfoot Interactive, this is just an exciting new frontier: touch screen usability.

There are key changes to usability due to the touch screen form factor that designers need to keep in mind. These changes are not limited to the iPad, but apply to all touch screen devices.

HOVER EFFECTS:
If you’re a designer, when was the last time you created an application or website that didn’t use some type of hover effect? Whether it’s link color, navigation drop-down, button rollover or whatever the case, you can not use these effects on touch screens. Thankfully a correctly coded navigation drop-down menu will still work on touch devices, but I’d estimate that being the case in about 30% of websites. The lack of hover capabilities on touch devices is not a huge barrier to overcome, but something that does need to be considered from a usability standpoint.

ERGONOMICS:
My guess is that we’ll begin hearing of various cases of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome due to tablet computing in less than 6 months. When developing for your average computer user, you’re concerns are fairly limited to resolutions and scrolling. The mouse pointer can go everywhere and click fairly small hotspots. Touch screen development requires accounting for the users position to the device. Are they holding the device while standing next to a patient? Are they laying down at home while watching TV? The usable areas in these scenarios are very different. If a user is standing while holding the device with one hand, multi-touch gestures are difficult. If the device is in a person’s lap, then sky’s the limit. When designing for a touch screen device, always make sure you’re taking the user’s usage position into consideration.

Check back next week for Part 2 of Touch Screen Usability.