A Study Comparing Table and List-Based Smartphone Interface Usability

Never before has society seen a technology or medium advance as quickly as the smartphone. With advancements of smartphone technology, many daily tasks can be accomplished easier and faster with smartphone devices, which require more and more people from numerous backgrounds to use a variety of interface layouts. This study hopes to contribute in building a framework for conducting usability studies to assist in creating a foundation for smartphone interface development by evaluating the effectiveness of two commonly used mobile website interfaces. Since smartphone usability studies are relatively new, there is no smartphone software to record or track this kind of information. Three usability methods reviewed in this study were demographics, usability study through video recordings, and evaluation through exit survey. In regards to usability, the table interface is more effective than the list interface. User testing of the two navigation prototypes, as well as user comparison of one prototype to the other, gave feedback that will contribute to improve the mobile website navigation experiences for users.

Patrick Finley is Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Oklahoma State University. He specializes in interactive design that contributes in building frameworks of usability with mobile touch devices.