Essentials of Designing for Touch Screens in Web Development
Here’s an anecdote to kick off our web development journey; Why don’t coders like to go outside? Because they’re afraid of bugs!
In reality though, we, the code-crunching, bug-busting keyboard warriors, venture into various territories. One such domain, often poking at the fringes of our routine protocol, is the intricacies of designing for touch screens. So let’s plunge into this discussion on ‘The Essentials of Designing for Touch Screens in Web Development’.
The Rise of Touch Screens
With the advent of sleek smartphones and user-friendly tablets, users are interacting differently with websites than they did in the age of Desktop-first design. People love touching their screens and pinching-zooming images. So, it’s paramount that we, the amazing web developers that we are, meet those tapping expectations.
Accommodating Touch: Smart vs. Not-so-Smart
Surprisingly, creating a website that’s user-friendly on touch screens isn’t as simple as swapping out a mouse icon with a finger icon (if only, right?). You have to meditate on various aspects such as target size, spacing and multi-touch gestures, lest you want fingers and thumbs of all sizes flailing all over your site.
Design with Generous Targets
Have you ever tried tapping a minuscule button on a webpage, only to trigger an event on another small button located four pixels away? That means that the web developer didn’t factor in the ‘CSS Rule of Thumb’ (pun totally intended) – ensuring touch targets are large enough for users to interact with, fuss-free.
A quick tip: a touch target should ideally be at least 44 x 44 CSS pixels to accommodate a fingertip, but feel free to be more generous if your layout allows.
Spacing, my dear Watson!
Ever thought you were launching an app, but instead got a cheek full of hair because you accidentally called your boss? Fun times (not really!). Apply some reasonable spacing as a buffer between different touch targets on your web page to avoid such faux pas. The space between the buttons is as crucial as the buttons themselves.
Mastering the Art of Multi-touch
Most touch screens support multi-touch gestures, such as pinching to zoom or rotating an image. Embrace these functionalities to make your web pages more interactive and less stale-bread feel. But remember, with great power (read functionalities), comes great responsibility (read debugging)!
The Call of Responsive Design
No discussion on touch screen design would be complete without the mention of our good old friend, Responsive Design. This means your site should look and function well across a range of devices like desktops, tablets, and smartphones. It’s like being a jack of all devices (and mastering them too!).
Testing Becomes Even More Crucial
Hate testing? Tough luck! Designing for touch screens requires even more rigorous testing. Testing on different devices and orientations, analysing user interactions, and consistently updating your approach based on feedback are the necessary evils you cannot avoid.
And remember, your user’s thumbs are a moving target (pun very much intended). So, the design needs to adapt and evolve to meet their ever-changing needs.
Conclusion
Designing for touch screens in web development might seem like trying to type up ‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare’ on a number pad (button mashing, anyone?). But soak in these essentials and practice them, and soon you’ll be creating thumb-happy experiences.
Throughout your journey, remember this phrase: Your users gave you the ‘thumbs up’, so never let them down!
Now go forth and create some touch-friendly digital magic!
