Why iPad newspapers is a big NO-NO !

Source: sfnblog.com

How about reading your favorite newspapers from an iPad?

That might seem to be the very thing happening today.

The iPad-only newspaper shows significant changes from the traditional hold and fold newspaper format to one that comes in a tablet format, is online and electronic (Trotter 2011). Many view the tablet as a convenient source of information as readers can easily click on different links on the iPad, bringing them to other pages and at the same time assist in their learning (Trotter 2011).

I have to disagree. I opine that traditional, hold and fold, newspapers are a more convenient source of information as compared to the iPad-only newspaper. To support my thesis, I will use the principle of iPad usability to aid in my reasoning.

In 2010, Jakob Nielsen did a survey on 7 Mac users, who have 3 months of experience using Mac products, testing out iPad applications and websites through the product (Nielsen 2010). Nielsen discovered that there were a handful of iPad usability problems that the participants faced. One problem that occurred was the inconsistent interaction designs for applications on the iPad. Different applications on the device require different methods to produce the same result (Nielsen 2010). For example, touching a picture on one application may lead you to another page whereas the same action will produce no result on another (Nielsen 2010).

Soure: iPad Application Developer

The sensitivity of the touch screen on the iPad often appear as an inconvenience to the users.

The same survey was conducted in 2011 with 16 participating iPad users whom all have 2 months of experience using iPad (Nielsen 2011). The survey required the users to test a total of 26 iPad applications and 6 websites (Nielsen 2011). Nielsen still found some issues relating to its usability although year has passed and improvements have been made (Nielsen 2011).

In my previous blog post on print vs. screen documents, I wrote that navigations on the web are important and responsible for readers to help them understand a document better. It turns out that they can be a problem too: Nielsen explains that certain applications on the iPad featured too much navigational links which complicate things (Nielsen 2011). There was also the issue of the sensitivity of the screen where users may be brought to unwanted pages or a site being closed due to an accidental click of a wrong button on the device, caused by the touchable areas being too close together (Nielsen 2011).

Thus...

All these only go to show why traditional newspapers are a more convenient source of information for the public. 

To read the original newspaper article on the topic, click here.

References:

Nielsen, J 2010, iPad Usability: First Findings From User Testing, Useit.com, viewed 29 October 2011, <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ipad-1st-study.html>.

Nielsen, J 2011, iPad Usability: Year One, Useit.com, viewed 29 October 2011, <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ipad.html>.

Trotter, C 2011, 'iPad-only newspaper furthers media trend', the Centro, 17 February, viewed 1 November 2011, <http://www.thecento.com/news/2011/feb/17/ipad-only-newspaper-furthers-media-trend/>.