UX Consultation Helps Wikitude World Browser Explore Itself
The world may be a big, complicated place, but the Wikitude World Browser can make it a little simpler. Wikitude is an ‘augmented reality’ app that helps smartphone users to explore the world around them.
Now Wikitude itself has become a little simpler to use. The version for Nokia smartphones recently received a user experience (UX) consultation from Nokia. Conducted by design experts applying mobile heuristics, the consultation provided developers at Mobilizy GmbH — Wikitude’s Salzburg, Austria-based publisher — with suggestions for improving the app’s usability and enhancing its consumer appeal.
The results of the consultation and accompanying report are evident in the latest version of Wikitude for Nokia devices, which went live in Nokia’s Ovi Store in mid-December 2010. Among the UX improvements: larger, more touch-friendly buttons throughout; an easier way to exit the app; and a more effective arrangement of the controls in landscape mode. ‘This really improved the UI’, says Wolfgang Damm, head of Qt development at Mobilizy. ‘Without the report, we probably wouldn’t have thought about the UI that much. And we probably would not have done the development work for a new version.’
While achieving a simple UI may typically be easy for developers of single-function apps, Wikitude’s functional complexity makes the task more challenging. The app depends simultaneously on the smartphone’s camera, GPS, compass, accelerometer, and internet connection to combine information into a single view. For example, a Wikitude user could point the smartphone’s camera at a nearby attraction — such as the Statue of Liberty or the Eiffel Tower — and get information about it. Mobilizy’s Damm enjoys using the app at ski resorts, where he impresses friends with his ability to identify, with Wikitude’s help, the names of nearby mountains.
Wikitude also involves porting among platforms. The app originally was developed for a non-Nokia platform and then was ported to several others, including native Symbian. The first version of Wikitude for Nokia devices was launched in Ovi Store late in 2009. Almost immediately after that, Mobilizy began using the Qt application development framework, from Nokia’s Qt Development Frameworks, to create a version that supports a wider range of Nokia smartphones. The version currently offered in Ovi Store was developed with Qt.
The UX consultation, conducted on version 5.0.1 of Wikitude, included the following findings from the evaluator: The app gives the user a ‘Wow!’ feeling; it uses augmented reality in a ‘simple-to-use and joyful way’; and it provides deep information without overwhelming the user.
The evaluator also suggested several improvements, such as increasing the sizes of certain buttons, adding an Exit button, and improving the layout in landscape mode.
The issue of button size related to controls that are likely to be tapped by the user’s thumb, such as Distance, Search, and Back in the app’s camera view. The UX evaluator recommended that these buttons be enlarged to at least 7 x 7 mm and preferably to 9 x 9 mm for thumb usage.
While this surprised Damm and his team, they were pleased by a suggestion from the UX specialist for how to determine optimal button size for touchscreens: First place one finger on the display, then place another finger next to it, and so on. The number of buttons on the display should not exceed the number of fingers that can fit across it. ‘It sounds obvious’, Damm says, ‘but we had never thought of this.’ On the new version of Wikitude for Nokia devices, the buttons are larger — representing one of the recommendations Damm calls ‘low-hanging fruit’ because they were so easy to implement.
Damm was pleasantly surprised by the speed with which his team was able to implement the suggested changes — about a week and a half. ‘I was surprised that we were able change it so quickly’, Damm says. ‘I think Qt helped quite a lot. You can use style sheets for different elements, and it’s quite quick to change how something looks.’
The UX consultation from Nokia marked a departure from past practices for the Wikitude developers. While working on versions for other mobile platforms, the team had done some UX testing, but only on an informal basis. ‘We would give versions to our friends and families, and ask them what they thought about it’, Damm explains. ‘We’d look over their shoulders while they used it, to see how they were reacting.’
One beneficial effect of the UX consultation has been on Damm himself. ‘I knew about designing a UI so the user could understand it, but I did not have much background in UI design or UX’, he says. ‘The Nokia consultation helped me focus on the important things. It also helped me realise that it is an area I’m not that good at!’ In fact, the UX consultant also provided the team with a list of recommended UX books and articles, and Damm is now studying the topic.
‘Personally, I will read more on the issue, to gain more knowledge’, Damm says. ‘And as a company, we will spend more time thinking about the user and how the app gets used.’ Once that happens, a simple-to-use app could get even simpler.
The Wikitude World Browser is available in Ovi Store, and it is free.
See our User Experience Services page for more information on how we can help you.
