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

by Scott McQuiggan

While it might sound silly to say, your users are human. Being such, they are prone to mistakes—double taps when a single tap was required, deleting data accidently, hitting back or next too soon, and so on. Apps must provide affordances for this type of accidental behavior. Students and younger users are even more prone to these errors, given their impulsive clicking habits and limited experience with navigation. Apps can do this by providing confirmation screens (e.g., “Are you sure you want to exit without saving your work?”) to prevent unintentional navigational errors. This could also impact design through the study of where users are prone to accidentally touch the screen, as that might not be an ideal area for an important button. Beyond the accidental, users might also want to explore the app, which is something that developers should encourage. Offering safety nets (like an Undo or Revert to Saved button) makes users feel comfortable trying new things within the app.30 Ultimately, when designing an app and its navigation, it is important not just to think about the ideal test case, but to also consider the potential and probable pitfalls that can occur.