Testing and User Experience for Mobile Apps (for Students)

Arslan AliSidat Hyder

arslan.ali@sidathyder.com.pk

Testing by Definition

The Device Psyche Mobile Common Sense and Market Trends

Mobile O/S

The User Experience

Testing The Usability◦ Consistency

◦ Flexibility, Efficiency and Personalization◦ Ease of Inputs

◦ Visibility of System Status◦ Being Realistic

◦ Ergonomics◦ Aesthetics and Social Sense

◦ Error Handling

Testing is questioning a product in order to evaluate it.

James Bachsatisfice.com

Testing is about asking and answering the question “Is there a problem here?”

Michael BoltonDevelopSense.com

the infinite process of comparing the invisible to

the ambiguous so as to avoid the unthinkablehappening to the anonymous

In other words, it is a challenge!

Check out: Becoming a Software Testing Expert – James Bach

Perfect Testing is….

Tablets

Smart Phones

PDAs

Pads

Personal Computers

Telephone

Source: Wikipedia

Source: Wikipedia

Android from Google Inc. (free and open source)

bada from Samsung Electronics (closed source, proprietary)

BlackBerry OS from BlackBerry (closed source, proprietary)

iOS from Apple Inc. (closed source, proprietary)

S40 (Series40) from Nokia (closed source, proprietary)

Symbian OS from Nokia and Accenture (open public license)

Windows Phone from Microsoft (closed source, proprietary)

And many more…

The Testing of mobile apps is all about One and One thing only:

“The User Experience”

a.k.a “UX”

o Increase commercial potentialo Minimize support cost.

o User needs and desires are reflected

o UI will support both frequent and criticaltasks.

UX testing suggest small changes which is very cost effective when it occurs at the right point in the production cycle.

Branding

Functionality

Content

And…

Usability

Consistency

Flexibility

Ergonomics

Match with real

world

Ease of InputEfficiency

Personalization

Error Handling

Aesthetic and Social

Buttons are pressed

Slides are moved

Left Soft Key and Right Soft Key Actions

Consistency is important in selection of an image, icon and other layout of mobile application.

Supportive and Shorter UI for critical or frequent tasks

Provision of

shortcuts to perform

frequent tasks

Labeling on buttons to make the functions self explanatory

Minimize the navigation and make it efficient

Ensure sufficient feedback for all interaction

„Help view‟ would help

less-advanced users to use

the application

Flexibility, Efficiency and Personalization

Use of Auto Filling text fields to avoid spelling mistakes.

Use of dropdown list / Selections

Large enough input fields for touch screen users.

Does the user knows what is going on? A known reference Point : User must know where user is

currently standing Use of progress bar for installation or loading status of

items.

Proper font sizes, font color or color contrast etc.

Use of real world objects (icons, images) as much as possible

Use of self explanatory text for button, icons or images which is nearest to the real world.

Use the real time scenarios to make your application more appealing for end users.

Visual design of mobile application must be Easy to read under different condition like in sunlight or in dark night.

A glance at the display should be enough to understand the information.

Mobile devices are like companions Therefore, mobile devices must also be pleasing to use.

They should look and work beautifully,

and never embarrass the user in a social situation.

Please don‟t take this wrong

The user‟s data Privacy and Safety

and

User friendly and socially acceptable UI for application.

Because mobile screens are small;

Error message texts should be short and precise, yet non-technical and understandable.

Error notification should propose a solution to the error and should be in user understandable language.

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