Tips to Develop a Highly Usable Mobile App

App development is one of the most profitable industries of today. However, there are several challenges that a software developer has to overcome to build a usable mobile application. The small multiple sized screens of mobile devices, the difference of screen resolutions, and the limitations of a touch screen are only some disadvantages that developers face in designing a highly usable software. Want to enhance the usability of your mobile app? Follow the below listed simple tips and tricks:

1. Make the app more compatible with screens of different resolutions – The display screens of different mobile devices available in the contemporary market are diverse. This means that the screen resolutions are also dissimilar. The difficulty that software designers face is to determine the app resolution which will be ideally suited to that of the device in which it is installed. A simple tip to achieve this is to include very little data on the main display screen of the mobile application.

2. The architecture of app content – The content of a mobile app is key to understanding its features and functionality. Guidelines to achieving a well structured app content is to use links that connect the user to the content and other main features of the software on its landing page. Also, the content on the landing page must be placed in the order that identifies the mobile priorities of a user. The developer should be able to address app navigation needs of both non touch screen and touch screen mobile device users and must make sure that the main content can be read by few key taps or taps on the screen. Remember to add both texts and images (only simple ones) in the app’s content.

3. Do not use nuanced colors in the apps – Mobile devices which have LCD screens come with color contrast abilities. This inspires software developers to build applications using nuanced colors. However, this creates the problem of not being able to use the device in all types of light conditions. For instance, if the surrounding light condition is poor, perceiving the colors of the mobile app becomes difficult; this in turn means that the user will face difficulties reading the mobile application’s content. An easy tip to solve this problem is using highly contrasted colors for differentiating the different aspects of the mobile app, for instance the widgets. The developer must also remember to contrast solid blocks of colors with light shades of outlined boxes. 

4. Control the app’s font size – If the font size of the app content is very small, it will be very difficult for the user to read it. Again, if the font size is large, it will not fit in the small screens of the mobile devices. Since a large number of apps in the similar category are already available in the mobile market, it is advisable that the developer conduct a research to determine the apt size of the application’s font. In the words of mobile market researchers, usability of a mobile application enhances if its font size is maintained.

To conclude, the key to building a highly usable mobile application is to make it flexible so that they may adapt to the device in which they are installed. Using features most preferred by users also makes an app more usable.