3 posts tagged “userinterface”

When we think of internet browsing experiences on the mobile, most of us think of bland and boring text/link based WAP pages (as seen in the first image above) without any styling that we see on their counterparts. designed for big screens and PC based browsing. Netvibes has release a version of NetvibesToGo recently that challenges this presumption. The user interface (as seen in the second image above) is designed for mobile internet but has all the aha! and delight that comes with the big screen experience. You have to browse it to believe it!

However there is still one thing that has yet to be worked out and that is the screen size of the content. Although the user can glance at the page without scrolling and absorb most of the information, at times you still have to scroll horizontally to look for information that gets cut off or you expect to be there but isn't there in the vertical screen.

I hope the designers at Netvibes as working on the ASAP because it won't be too long before the aha! wears out and people start pointing fingers! :) Until then... enjoy!!

While going through the various applications that ZOHO Suite has to offer, I noticed that each one looked different from the other. In my opinion both brand and UI (user interface) consistency are lacking.

However it would be ignorant and brash of me to assume that they have not considered this totally. I understand that there needs to be some level of difference to characterize the application itself. (you can't have a powerpoint application looking similar to an excel sheet application or a chat application!)

BRANDING:
The Zoho logo along with the branding of the specific application always appears on the top left of the screen.

USER INTERFACE:
Although I accept designing a variety of applications with UI can be hard, I do not think that it is impossible. The Zoho Suite has a global navigation bar (consisting of text links) on top of the screen that allows the user to move across the different applications. However this is the only place where there is UI consistency. Apart from this the buttons in each web app have different styles, the menus are in different places, some applications have tabs to navigate, some have free floating buttons, etc.. I am not proposing 'consistency for monotonous experience' but 'consistency for intuitive experience'.

Here is an example. (See enlarged version of image above)
If you look at the above image, you will see transparent yellow boxes over each header. Those yellow boxes mark the spaces on the header of the application UI where the button (Create/Upload/New/Add) to start a new activity specific to that particular application is placed.

The image below is a collection of those yellow boxes representing their location on the header of their respective applications.







As a user I might be used to seeing the 'New' action (which will allow me to create a new word document) on Zoho Writer  on the left-hand corner in a bevelled capsule styled button. When I decide to start using Zoho Sheets or Zoho Notebook, it would be a lot easier for me to transition to that application if the New Sheet/New Notebook actions represented in the same space and in the same style, and not as a tab.

Familiarity is a key factor that affects the usability of any object or service. Personally, I have noticed myself rejecting services (as useful as they might be) due to the amount of learning involved in understanding the new interface. In my opinion Zoho should use familiarity to its advantage and standardize a few key actions. This way many first time users will not get intimidated by the learning curve required to begin using the service.