Phones are used with one thumb, on the move, in bad light and with patchy signal. Designing for those conditions first makes a product easier to use everywhere else too.
A small screen forces good decisions. There is no room for filler, so every element has to earn its place, and that discipline improves the desktop version as well.
Design for Thumbs
Keep primary actions in the lower half of the screen, make touch targets at least 44 points tall and give people room to miss. Fewer taps always beats clever gestures.
Place destructive actions away from frequent ones and always offer a way to undo. A mistake made with a thumb should never cost someone their work.
Test on real devices, with real hands, outdoors. A prototype that feels fine on a desk can be frustrating on a bus.
Andrew Nikos
“A good mobile screen does one job well, and does it within reach of your thumb.”
Respect Slow Connections
Show something useful straight away, load images as people scroll and make failures recoverable. A fast, plain screen is better than a beautiful one that never appears.
Save what people type so a dropped connection never loses it, and say clearly when something is waiting to sync.
Measure on a mid-range phone over a throttled network. If it works there, it will work for almost everyone.
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