The team from 37signals has a post from The Getting Real series entitled Embrace Constraints. It’s a short article and a good read.
What got me to thinking about the article was the iPhone. On several occasions over the the last month, I have heard people state about certain websites or applications “it’s easier to use on my iPhone.” I find this fascinating. People have 24″ monitors, or 15″ laptop screens, along with a mouse and full keyboard, yet in many cases, they prefer using an application on the iPhone to the application on a computer.
What’s happening here? The designers of these applications are forced to embrace the constraints, e.g. small form factor, no tactile keyboard, and reduce the application to its essence, and navigation to less-used features are tucked away or gone completely. Every centimeter of space is efficiently used. And, it’s difficult to succumb to scope creep or bloated features with the amount of room available.
The next step for these companies should be to re-think their desktop applications or websites after building an iphone app. I’m not suggesting having a desktop app look exactly like the iphone app. But after taking something down to its essence, re-imagine it as if the previous desktop experience didn’t exist. Imagine the iphone app came first, then build to the desktop.
Any apps that you prefer on your iphone to your desktop? For me, Tripit, tweetie, and facebook are all prime examples where I prefer the experience on my iPhone.
Posts