Usability considerations

There are several considerations I need to make relating to how my app will be used by the target audience. The main functional elements need to be clear and easy to use, otherwise the user may become confused and ultimately be put off using the app after their initial download. 

Menus
The menus need to be clear and their function should be obvious to the user. In my app there are two main menus; the 'year selector' and 'category filters'. I need to think of a way to make it visually clear which year has been selected and also which categories are 'active' and affecting the type of content that is displayed on the timeline. On a website it is common to use a rollover effect to indicate to the user the interactive elements on a page. However, this is more difficult to achieve in an app due to the absence of a mouse/cursor. In my designs I am going to investigate a couple of options for the menus, and I will then send them to a few people within my target audience to 'test' (visually rather than physically). This will give a good insight into what my app users may expect from the navigation. 

The two options I have initially thought of involve a) creating a check-box for each category so that it is clear which subject has been selected (and is therefore affecting the assets displayed on the timeline) or b) to change the colour of the icons/text for each category depending on whether it is active or inactive. For example, if a category has been pressed by the user then the colour could change to white to show that it has been selected, whereas inactive categories could be a darker colour (possibly grey) to indicate that they have not been selected. I think that selecting a year would work best as a scroll through list of years, but the active/inactive colour scheme could be applied to this menu as well for consistency.

"Research has shown that the best target size for widgets is 1cm x 1cm for touch devices; however, we still see some apps that have tiny targets, far below that recommended limit." From Nielson Norman Group Report (2011)

The State of iPad Usability

Timeline
The content that is related to each year is ultimately the most important element in my app; this is the reason that people will use it - to find out the story from the year of their birth. Therefore it is important to ensure that the timeline (which houses the content) is easy to use and understand. In my mind it seems obvious that if assets are positioned above a timeline, then users would expect to be able to scroll along the timeline to see more assets. However, I am going to put this in my next testing questionnaire, to find out whether the target audience would actually expect to be able to navigate the timeline in this manner.


Adding content to Personal Timeline
Another important feature of the app is the ability for users to be able to 'favourite' individual assets from the main timeline and save them onto their personal timeline (which can then be shared with friends and family). This action needs to be as natural and uncomplicated as possible and should not detract or lead them away from the main timeline. I like the 'chat bubbles' that are used in the Facebook app (http://www.cultofmac.com/223708/facebook-6-0-now-in-app-store-with-chat-heads-stickers-redesigned-ipad-news-feed/) and think that the option of dragging an asset to your profile icon (located in the bottom right-hand corner) may seem like a logical action for users familiar with the Facebook App. Another option would be to create an icon that can be clicked on the asset which automatically adds it to the personal timeline. The issue with this could be that the user may not know whether the action has had the desired effect - some visual indication would need to be implemented if I went with this option to provide clear feedback to the user.