When I started working on a client’s e-commerce touchscreen kiosk application, I scoured the web looking for best practices and usability specific to touchscreen interfaces. Touchscreen interfaces were always a side bar in any book discussing web usability. All I could find was 54 pixels and 10 pixels, minimum size of touchscreen buttons and the minimum spacing between buttons.
I frankensteined together the beginnings of a best practices for touchscreen interface usability and design. I used my many years of experience in design and interpolated from all the web usability knowledge I could find. It wasn’t pretty and there was a little bit of trial and error.
Now several years later, I’m back to the web to share what I’ve learned. I’ve wrestled with the below topics and more.
- Internationalization with Asian Languages
- Usability versus Branding
- Text Formatting
- Scroll Bars!
- White Space versus Decision Points per Screen
- Readability
- Unique Layout Constraints
- Screen Flow Issues
My goal with this blog is to create a dialogue for designers to discuss these issues and build a living best practices document for touchscreen interface usability and design.
I’m not talking about multi-touch smart phones. The multi-touch aspect creates its own usability issues. I’m talking about Red Box, airport check-in kiosks, mall informational kiosks, etc… I saw a POS kiosk at Jack in the Box last weekend!
Please comment, email me questions and let me know if you’ve had different experiences.