1. August, 2011
iPad Usability Best Practices Checklist
Introduction
In 2010, the year the iPad launched, The Nielsen
Norman Group conducted a first usability study
reporting how real users actually used a broad
variety of iPad apps as well as websites accessed on
the iPad. In 2011, they did a second round, fine-
tuning their previous findings. The results are two
+100 pages reports containing their findings,
recommendations and screenshots.
This document synthesizes these recommendations
onto 5 pages for use as a quick reference or
checklist.
The full reports can be downloaded for free from
the Norman Nielsen Group website:
http://www.nngroup.com/reports/mobile/ipad/
Geert De Laet
Technology evangelist
LUON
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2. iPad Usability Best Practices Checklist
Features users that they will find extra content by turning
the tablet
Assume you’re designing for a multi-user device
iPads are more a family device than a true personal If your app needs more than 20 seconds to
device. download content and become fully functional,
think seriously about how you are going to
Design for repeat users
entertain the user during that download time.
Apps work best when they are designed for
customers who are already fans of the brand and Keep users at the same location (within the
engage with it on a regular basis. content) when they change orientation.
In particular, when users rotate the tablet back to
Your iPad app should have a secret weapon
the previous orientation, reestablish the previous
compared to your website, it should deliver extra
view
value
Any task flow should start with actions that are
essential to the main task.
Users should be able to start the task as soon as
possible.
Provide a search box
Epicurous.com secret weapon: recipes in a
format easy-to-read in the kitchen Content
Make sure your app contains enough content for
Do not make users work more in your iPad app
research.
than on your website
Especially for e-commerce apps, people are unsure
Example: don’t make users pay or register for an
about how secure iPad is compared to other
app containing freely available content from the
devices. Hence they will not very often buy via
website
their iPad, but rather browse and research items
Do not design an iPad app as if it were an iPhone
Keep the same content available in both
app.
orientations, at both article level and page level.
The iPad is less ‘mobile’ than the iPhone and used
To make the content consistent at the page level,
in another context where a condensed, space-
look for natural breaking points (e.g. new
saving presentation of information does not apply.
paragraph) and keep those in both orientations.
If a feature is only available in one orientation, tell
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3. iPad Usability Best Practices Checklist
If you must include instructions, make them clear
and simple
Tapping anywhere inside the cell will
activate the button
Bing instructions are clear and simple.
They focus on a single feature.
Make buttons look tappable
Users don’t know that something is touchable
If you must include instructions, focus on a single unless it looks so
feature at the time.
Present only those instructions that are necessary Make efficient use of the big screen
for the user to get started
Use popovers only
 if the content is only a few lines and there is no
scroll
Design
 if the user needs information from the
Beware of read-tap asymmetry underlying page (in which case it should be
Read-tap asymmetry is the effect that content is readable)
readable, but the links and widgets are too small to Otherwise, use a tabular view on a page
touch reliably
The best target size for widgets is 1cm x 1cm for
touch devices
Don’t place targets to close to each other
Use padding as a solution for small targets
With padding, although the visible part of the
target may be small, there is some invisible target
space surrounding it, so that if a user hits that An example of a popover with few lines and
space, their tap would still count. With touch no scroll.
devices, users expect padding in tabular views!
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4. iPad Usability Best Practices Checklist
Use small modal views only if there’s enough space Add a back button to the navigation bar, and make
to display all needed info sure that it also works on the home page
Otherwise, if there’s a lot of content to display like
Use the same navigation scheme in landscape and
for example on product pages, use a separate page
portrait mode
For iPad magazines, the navigation bar should
contain a table of contents link taking the user to a
table of contents page in the magazine.
Especially for iPad magazines, where the table of
contents is often used, make sure that it is
Modal views are little ‘popup’ windows  easy to access
that block the underlying page until closed
 scannable, explanatory & clearly formatted
If you use swipe gesture for navigation, Use navigation bars built into the actual page
 make sure that the page contains enough space rather than the iPad’s tab bar at the bottom.
safe for swiping next to the two vertical sides The iPad’s tab bar at the bottom is far less
 avoid covering the pages with carousels and frequently used than its iPhone equivalent.
other design features that interfere with swiping
When designing a carousel for navigation, it is
During the initial download of the app, display a important to move the carousel display so that it
progress bar, not a spinning gear starts or is centered around the product or article
that the user is inspecting
The controls that are related to a task should be
grouped together and reflect the sequence of
actions in the task.
Do not use startup sounds, animations or videos
Navigation
A carousel is an interface element used for
Don’t use the logo for navigation scrolling through items on part of the page.
If you use swipe gesture to navigate, give visible
cues (arrows, tips) to indicate the direction of
navigation
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5. iPad Usability Best Practices Checklist
User input About LUON
LUON is a customer relationship marketing agency.
Minimize user input on the iPad:
By developing campaigns and programs based on
smart ideas, relevant content and a matching
Compute information for the user
experience, we help brands benefit from a fruitful
Be tolerant of typos and offering corrections relationship with their customers. It's all a matter
of making the right offer at the right moment in the
Save history and allow users to select previously
customer’s lifecycle, across all relevant interactive
typed info
media.
Use defaults that make sense for the user Every project we work on is based on clear and
measurable objectives. Which helps us in our
Keep the user logged in if the app doesn’t store any
burning ambition to achieve extraordinary Return
sensitive information
On Marketing Investment, together with great
Allow the users to decide if they want to be kept clients such as Unilever, Sony Ericsson, Vaillant,
logged in if the app contains sensitive info Tech Data, Thomas Cook, Microsoft, Fnac and Ello
Mobile.
Contact
Geert De Laet
Technology evangelist
gdelaet@luon.com
@geertdelaet
Gert Lintermans
Client Services Director
glintermans@luon.com
+32 478 32 46 00
LUON bvba
Brusselsesteenweg 560 - 3090 Overijse – Belgium
T +32 2 686 00 10 - info@luon.com - @LUON
http://www.luon.com/
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