Usability of iPads and Websites
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The tablet market is growing at a high rate, the iPad being the best selling in this segment. The iPad has many uses such as; streaming videos, playing games and surfing the internet. However its usability has come under critics from several parties. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the usability of the iPad from a consumer stand point. In 2011, the Nielsen Norman conducted a research on the usability of the iPad, and published a report. A total of 26 apps and 6 websites were tested. Many apps which the participants had installed on their iPads were also tested. Sixteen users participated in the research who were evenly distributed in terms of gender. Their average age ranged between 21 years and 50 years. The tests included; the usage of gestures, implementation of the back buttons, and the organization of the app or website. The findings of the tests were; usage of splash screens in websites and apps, squeezing of information into very small areas, making it hard to recognize, usage of excessive navigation methods and over usage of the swipe gesture in the apps. Despite the efforts being made by the developers to make iPad apps and websites more usable, there is still a large room for improvement as indicated by the test findings. The use of gestures is an inconsistent interaction design as described by Nielsen. The user interface differing from app to app is the most frequent inconsistency he discovered. Another problem he identified was the low discoverability of the gestures. He gives examples of some applications using their logos for navigation, a feature that most users were not familiar with. He mentions “tapping the logo takes back users to the front page in carousel view.” This should prompt the developers to find a better place to put the navigation, or possibly provide some hints to the user. Another significant issue was the touch targets being too small. This not only causes the ‘fat finger’ problem (makes it hard to hit the targets) since the iPad is a touch screen device, but also makes them hard to be discovered by the users. This makes the end users work more even when they are eventually able to find and hit the targets. Crowding targets is another problem encountered. This leads to ‘fat finger’ problem making it difficult for the users to hit the desired target. Read-tap asymmetry was a problem encountered with websites that had content that was large enough to read but too small to tap. He says, “The content is readable, but the links and widgets are too small to touch reliably.” However, this problem is more related to the design of the applications than to the iPad usability. Most people still don’t enjoy typing on the iPad although it is much easier than typing on a smartphone. This is because typing on the iPad involves a lot of looking at the keyboard in order to hit the right key. Users are forced to split their attention between reading what they are typing and finding the keys on the keyboard. Moreover, the keys offer no haptic feedback. Some comments from the users were: “I type a lot faster on my computer” and “I am not good at typing on this”. The research found out that the participants were tolerant of typing when entering information to complete a purchase, but did not like creating accounts for the purpose of accessing information. The proper implementation and use of a back button helps in preventing accidental activations. In the absence of this button, users usually get lost while using an app. A back button is necessary whenever an application allows the users to jump forth and back between pages. Other applications utilize the carousel function enabling users to swipe from page to page just like a book. However, sometimes the page content contains other hyperlinks that can be touched accidentally. Also, the swipe may be disabled in an area that the user is unaware of, this might make the user think something is wrong with the app. This flaw has led to users requesting an actual back button as opposed to swiping forth and back between pages. Using thumbnails is an excellent way to attract users to other pages, articles or information. However, it is appropriate to use a back button when using thumbnails to ensure that the user does not get lost while using the app, and not know how to return to the home screen. Most of the users are satisfied with the overall usability of the iPad and Websites. However, many users have pointed out their dislike for the read-tap asymmetry gesture. Users claim that the text is large enough to read with ease, but the widgets and links are too small to use properly. Although I don’t own an iPad, I have run into similar problems on my phone. Zooming in and zooming out when using a website is annoying and makes the process of gathering or filling information more tedious. Overall I do like most of the iPad features such as the back buttons, carousels and swiping. The major downside of the iPad is the lack of consistency amongst applications. However, this issue lies with the application designers and developers.

References
Budiu, R., & Nielsen, J. (2011). Usability of iPad apps and websites. Retrieved February 21, 2014, from http://www.nngroup.com/reports/mobile/ipad/ipad-usability_2nd-edition.pdf.
Nielsen, J. (2010). IPad Usability: First Findings from user testing. Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, 26.