Breaking Development Conference – Nashville – July 2014
Conference Session: Small Screen Navigation
Ben Callahan – SparkBox

A review of current mobile design patterns for navigation and interaction. Trigger Indicators and Interaction Patterns.

My Notes:

• Don’t assume the big companies got it right. Don’t blindly copy patterns.
• Vast differences in nav indicators and response across sites (e.g. “>” on some sites opens/closes a menu; on other sites it takes you to a page).
• Content First – make sure we are building the right nav.
• Give priority to high use cases.
• Focus – overlay content with nav, e.g. content half hidden while overlay with menu.
• Behavior – e.g. single top-to-bottom accordion menu JavaScript – strive for a single DOM.
• Fallbacks aren’t worth it. Start with the lowest common denominator.
• Usability – Web Designers understand Hamburger Menu, average user does not.
• “Familiarity breeds usability” e.g. same nav on PC and Mobile.
• “Design without testing is guesswork.”

Other conference notes on Ben Callahan at BDCONF can be found at: Ben Callahan notes on Speaker Deck

“You cannot do timeless work on your own. It takes a team. Collaborate!”
~Ben Callahan