4ourth mobile design pattern wiki

Smashing Magazine posted a link to 4ourth mobile design pattern wiki today that I thought might be useful for other folks working on projects that incorporate mobile interaction.

It covers the wrapper, information display, labels, interactive controls and a lot more.

Here's a snippet from one of the early sections, "What is a Pattern?":

Patterns are simply well-defined, well-researched best practices, but fundamental principles of design must be followed always, the user must always be kept in mind, and the purpose of the design must always be considered.

In mobile interactive design, we might summarize these core principles as "user centered design," context, and other principles. A set of more specific ones are detailed at the end of this section. These core principles are always considered, the proper pattern for the situation is determined, and the correct application is created from the user's needs, their context, and by integrating the solution into the whole system.

The patterns in this book attempt to follow this philosophy. Not only are they intended to be a point of departure, but they explicitly state what conditions are required, which are optional, when to simply follow adjacent or superordinate standards, and the key pitfalls if the edges are exceeded.

Touch Screen User Experience

Touchscreens are becoming popular with their intutive design and ease of interaction, right from the mobile devices, Electronic Devices, Kiosk’s to ATM everywhere touchscreen has made a presence everywhere. Now a days key pads are replaced by touch screens

I also noticed couple of touchscreen applications/devices, where I got lost just because I wasn’t aware which gesture to use, as no proper guide was provided. I was suppose to pinch on an image to zoom it and I was trying to tap on it. these are all common problems we face. I want to provide

some of the guidelines which can improve the user experience of Mobiles

1. Provide clear Navigation
2. Use familiar Icons
3. Make Icons, buttons, links and interfaces easily clickable
4. Position and space the icons
5. Use Simple language
6. Maintain consistency and provide clear indications
7. Implied Textural in Mobile Design
8. Capture the richness of communication.