Jacob Nielson on iPad Usability

iPad UIs suffer under a triple threat that causes significant user confusion:

• Low discoverability: The UI is mostly hidden within the etched-glass aesthetic without perceived affordances.
• Low memorability: Gestures are inherently ephemeral and difficult to learn when they’re not employed consistently across apps; wider reliance on generic commands would help.
• Accidental activation: This occurs when users touch things by mistake or make a gesture that unexpectedly initiates a feature.

Highlights on iPad app usability. Jacob Nielson is incredibly fun to bash as a usability puritan who stifles innovation, but if you can separate the cream from the crud, there’s plenty of insight to be had from his work and report.

My experiences with the iPad have mirrored much of what he mentions here. We’ll tolerate poor usability on the device because it’s very new and fun, but there’s no reason it has to be that bad. Good software companies will figure that out fast, I think.