Designing Mobile Interfaces: Patterns for Interaction Design is a comprehensive reference for mobile design patterns. Whether designing for smartphones, featurephones or other related devices, common principles are discussed and codified as 76 universal interaction and interface patterns.

Aside from suggestions, each pattern lists pitfalls and implementations to avoid. Every pattern is grouped with similar or optional patterns, and explained with the underlying psychology and physiology. Along with appendices detailing mobile technologies, type and design principles and human factors, you will have a base of knowledge to make up your own mind, and react to the always-changing mobile environment.

"Designing Mobile Interfaces is another stellar addition to O’Reilly’s essential interface books. Every mobile designer will want to have this thorough book on their shelf for reference." — Dan Saffer

Buy it from Amazon:

• Paperback, 582 pages, color.

• For your Kindle.

Buy it direct from O'Reilly:

• Paperback, 582 pages, color.

• eBook. DRM-Free PDF, ePub, Kindle-compatible .mobi, DAISY, and Android .apk for pretty much any reader you wish.

Or, you can just read it right here on this wiki. Pretty much every bit of content from the book is posted online, right here.

Read in other languages

• Designing Mobile Interfaces has been translated into Russian, Chinese, Korean, and Italian. Other languages and editions

We also update it occasionally, especially the reference sections, so even if you buy the book check back for updates, and contact us with errors, suggestions or to get access to the wiki to add updates yourself.

Preface

• Preface

• Who This Book Is For

• What We Mean by “Mobile”

• What Is a Pattern?

• Where Did These Patterns Come From?

• Common Practice Versus Best Practice

• Reading the Patterns

• Successfully Designing with Patterns and Heuristics

• Principles of Mobile Design

The Patterns

• I - Page -

  • Introduction

  • Chapter 1 Composition: Scroll, Annunciator Row, Notifications, Titles, Revealable Menu, Fixed Menu, Home & Idle Screens, Lock Screen, Interstitial Screen, Advertising

  • Page-Wrapup

• II - Components

• III - Widget

• IV - Input and Output

II - Components

Introduction to the Components section.

2 - Display of Information

Introduction to the Display of Information chapter.

• Vertical List

• Infinite List

• Thumbnail List

• Fisheye List

• Carousel

• Grid

• Film Strip

• Slideshow

• Infinite Area

• Select List

3 - Control and Confirmation

Introduction to the Control and Confirmation chapter.

• Confirmation

• Sign On

• Exit Guard

• Cancel Protection

• Timeout

4 - Revealing More Information

Introduction to the Revealing More Information chapter.

• Windowshade

• Pop-Up

• Hierarchical List

• Returned Results

Summary to the Component Section Component Wrapup

III - Widget

Introduction to the Widget section.

5 - Lateral Access

Introduction to the Lateral Access chapter.

• Tabs

• Peel Away

• Simulated 3D Effects

• Pagination

• Location Within

6 - Drilldown

Introduction to the Drilldown chapter.

• Link

• Button

• Indicator

• Icon

• Stack of Items

• Annotation

7 - Labels and Indicators

Introduction to the Labels and Indicators chapter.

• Ordered Data

• Tooltip

• Avatar

• Wait Indicator

• Reload, Synch, Stop

8 - Information Controls

Introduction to the Information Controls section.

• Zoom & Scale

• Location Jump

• Search Within

• Sort & Filter

Summary to the Widget Section Widget Wrapup

IV - Input and Output

Introduction to the Input and Output section.

9 - Text and Character Input

Introduction to the Text and Character Input section.

• Keyboards & Keypads

• Pen Input

• Mode Switches

• Input Method Indicator

• Autocomplete & Prediction

10 - General Interactive Controls

Introduction to the General Interactive Controls section.

• Directional Entry

• Press-and-hold

• Focus & Cursors

• Other Hardware Keys

• Accesskeys

• Dialer

• On-screen Gestures

• Kinesthetic Gestures

• Remote Gestures

11 - Input and Selection

Introduction to the Input and Selection section.

• Input Areas

• Form Selections

• Mechanical Style Controls

• Clear Entry

12 - Audio and Vibration

Introduction to the Audio and Vibration section.

• Tones

• Voice Input

• Voice Readback

• Voice Notifications

• Haptic Output

13 - Screens, Lights, and Sensors

Introduction to the Screens, Lights, and Sensors section.

• LED

• Display Brightness Controls

• Orientation

• Location

Summary to the Input and Output Section Input and Output Wrapup

V - Stuff We Didn't Put In the Book

We made up a LOT of patterns as short descriptions, and when we got around to organizing and detailing them... they didn't all sound that good after all. Also, we have to keep the book at a reasonable size. But, we don't want to loose track of these, so here's an un-ordered list of those ideas we've kicked aside. For now.

• Additional Topics

Appendices

To keep the patterns focused on design and implementation, I have pulled all kinds of supporting information out of them. However, a lot of it is still very interesting. And there's no good way for a designer or developer to get a summary of this sort of information.

So, I've included it here as an Appendix, ordered so you can just pretty much read it from one end to the other.

You'll find that a few of the Appendices are actually just lists of resources. And in this day and age, resources are links to websites. Which, of course, will go out of date soon. Luckily, we keep this up to date on the 4ourth Mobile Design Wiki.

• http://4ourth.com/wiki/

Visit any time to get the latest updates, or just to avoid typing in long links from a piece of paper. And please come add your own information, or update old or changed links.

• An introduction to mobile radiotelephony - Cause everyone working in the field really should know.

  • Introduction to Location Technologies - Location is not just GPS. If you think it is, and are designing applications and services that use it, read this.

  • Introduction to NFC - Placeholder, mostly, now that this is coming online for real.

  • Introduction to Bluetooth - Also placeholder, with just some links of interest for now.

• Drawing Tools & Templates - Graphic design tools, UI guidelines, tips for various tools.

  • Emulators - Emulators, prototyping tools, design aids, etc.

  • Device Detection - The step past responsive you need to do for mobile. By guest expert Luca Passani.

  • Leverage Existing Device Capabilities - URI schemes and inter-application linking.

  • Raster Design Tips - 72 dpi is wrong.

  • Documentation Templates - Designing documents can be as important to successful implementation as the actual design.

  • Design for Accessibility - Stubbed for now. Someone *really* needs to write this.

  • Color Deficit Design Tools - And other tools to help understand colorblindness and related conditions.

  • Other Mobile Pattern Libraries - Not that I agree with most of these, but for completeness.

• Introduction to Mobile Typography - Overview of basic type terms and some things to watch out for in small screens.

  • Italics and Obliques For Digital Display

  • Readability and Legibility Guidelines

  • Typefaces for Screen Display

  • Greeking - If you need to represent placeholder text, or graphics, read this.

  • Type for Mobile Devices - A list of the typefaces used on various mobile platforms.

• Human Factors & Physiology - Sensation, Visual Perception, and Information Processing

  • Conspicuity with Color

  • Hearing & Limits

  • Brightness, Luminance, and Contrast

  • How Do Users Really Hold Mobile Devices

  • General Touch Interaction Guidelines

  • Fitts' Law

References

• Works Cited

• Additional Resources

Other Stuff from the Book

• Publishing Information

• About the Authors

• We'd Like to Hear from you

• Safari® Books Online

• Acknowledgements

• Colophon

• Index - This has not been imported as it's the book's index. It's keyed to page numbers, so doesn't work here. Consider it a value-add if you pay for the for the eBook or printed editions.

Speaking Engagments, Presentations, Webcasts...

Eric works in Sydney, Australia. Steven lives in the Kansas City, Missouri (US) area.

We're pretty busy with day jobs, freelance jobs and so on. But if we're scheduled to go somewhere and talk about anything remotely related to mobile (and it's an open meeting you can come to) we'll post it here.

Mentions, Reviews & Other Writing

I keep hoping for reviews, but haven't noticed a serious one outside of Amazon yet. Meanwhile, there are a few sites giving a lot of traffic. Both to be nice to them with in-kind links, and because the mentions mean you might like the articles, here they are:

• A closer look at patterns of mobile interfaces In Russian. Search for the URL to get a totally-readable Google Translate version.

• http://www.paulolyslager.com/free-ebooks-about-user-experience-interface-design/15 Free Ebooks about User Experience and Interface Design though it means this website, not the "e-book" per se.

• 20 FREE eBooks you need to design an outstanding user experience / ux Again, linking here. Which I don't mind.

• A Look Inside Mobile Design Patterns Teresa Neil, author of another mobile patterns book for O'Reilly, mentions us.

• 15 books on UX and UI for free. Worth reading! I think a different list of 15, though there are many overlaps. In Hebrew, but English words are un-translated, so you can get the gist anyway, or use Google Translate.

• REVIEW OF "DESIGNING MOBILE INTERFACES" by Doron Katz. Brief.

• At last, an up-to-date visual guide to designing mobile interfaces by Inerdtia.

I periodically see crazily glowing reviews on places like Twitter. I have to post some of these:

• "Seriously, the knowledge bomb being dropped by @shoobe01 at www.4ourth.com/wiki is like nuclear-grade awesome."

• "Don't go in expecting to come out any time soon: a superb resource for insight into mobile design"

Sometimes we (especially Steven) write for other publications, or blog about stuff that's relevant. Those, or inclusion of that writing in other key lists will go here:

• http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/mt-ftsearch.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&limit=20&search=steven+hoober

• http://ux.walkme.com/the-ultimate-ux-library-75-resources-from-the-best-publications/#.UYac1SviSq4 2 of the 75 links here!

• http://shoobe01.blogspot.com/

• http://ericberkman.com/blog/

UX & Mobile Development Work

• Job Board