Understanding context: mobile application development

In short, mobile applications are susceptible to changes in context and the variables that affect this context is slightly different when compared to desktop software. Hence the approach taken to understand this context is slightly different when it comes to mobile application.

5 questions you should ask before you go ahead with application development

Who are your application users ?

Having a good understanding of your user base will help define the solution and also the solution better. Questions like “what age group are they in ?”, “What geography they belong to ?”, “Are disabled people going to use your application ?“ etc help developers define the solution that they users would best relate to. They also help designers come up with user interfaces and interactions that are more likely to be accepted by the users of the application.

How and when will they interact with your application ?

Mobile users are mobile ie, they are on the move navigating things in the real world. Under such circumstances they are many variables at play. Their attention span in reduced, motor skills are somewhat diminished etc. Mobility presents unique challenges like small keyboards with little or no haptic feedback making alternative like voice and gesture inputs more likely to be used. One has to explore the effective use of such alternatives to improve the overall usability and user experience of the application .

Where are they when they are using your application ?

Developers usually develops in a well lit quiet place void of most of the distractions and early testing also happens in such controlled environments. But unfortunately the real world where the application is getting used is not completely rid all these factors. Attributes of the device, like network connectivity and environmental factors like noise, lighting may be constantly changing as the user is working with your application. Hence the developer needs to ask questions like will there be network connectivity throughout the use of the application ? does the user need more that auditory/vibration/visual alerts ? Simple things like whether the user will predominantly use your application during the day or night might give valuable inputs to the designers to come up with appropriate color themes for the user interface.