Mobile Learning: A Handbook for Developers, Educators, and Learners (Wiley and SAS Business Series)

by Scott McQuiggan

is a best practice to provide a welcome prompt, with a brief introductory tour of the app. This could be in the form of an overlay that provides quick descriptions of the functionality that might not be obvious (i.e., “swipe here to see more news”22), or a short tutorial, if a step–by-step description is more appropriate. In keeping with our warning about users' cognitive load limits, it is important to keep introductory tips brief and focused; no need to provide a full user guide detailing the full functionality and quirks of the app. The initial launch is designed to provide a quick overview, and since users can't use the app and see the tips at the same time, whatever the user gleans from the first launch screen will need to be held in the working memory. So, while a welcome prompt or overlay is a great idea, keep it as simple and focused as possible. Finally, the welcome guide should be constructed to activate upon the user's first launch, but not on subsequent launches.