Orientation as Navigation and Other iPad Oddities

The early flood of iPad applications has been an interesting experiment in seeing not only individuals take to the new form factor, but how developers / content publishers intend to deliver applications, experiences, and content optimize for this combination of form factor and interface metaphor. Neither the slate nor the iPhone interface are new; the combination in this size is, and the rapid realization when you start using it is that unlike some other Apple efforts on the interface engineering side, something about Apple’s own applications don’t feel quite right.

From touch and gestures to orientation and even rotation, Apple has sacrificed the elegant simplicity of the single button mouse days for flexibility. The result can be quite frustrating, and feels less like interaction and more like, well, experimentation, as more and more of the interface becomes gestural, with you manipulating the device itself vs. the interface on the screen as we’ve become accustomed to in our interactions with computing devices to date.

Case in point – Apple’s Pages for iPad; in addition to the frustration I encountered at discovering the compromises made, like the subset of features vs. actual desktop pages application, the decision to only make the top menu visible while in portrait mode, when the optimal orientation for typing is landscape mode, seems like an odd choice of compromise. At first I found it a novel approach – the interface gets out of my way while I’m typing. But then when I actually began to use it as I typically use a word processing application, I quickly realized that among the iPad’s many compromises is not only that of established convention – it really is an adjustment to the way you interact, since you’ll do things here you’d never do on the mobile devices that previously shared this same interface – and the need to learn all new behaviors. It’s more jarring than one realizes and begs the question of whether to prioritize familiarity or form factor for certain applications.

Another example is the iPad vs. the iPhone for casual gaming. While I was incredibly excited to see games developed to take advantage of the larger form factor, I still enjoy playing Scrabble more on my iPhone than I do on my iPad. The iPad seems to have the clear advantage – larger screen, no need to zoom in and out of the board when playing. Yet I enjoy the experience less. It could be that for a casual game of that nature, the form factor quickly becomes and inconvenience, especially in certain environments – like a crowded commuter train in the mornings.

The change in the experience of interactions with the iPad means a whole new way of working, and it’s yet to be seen if people adapt to the compromises iPad developers (and Apple itself) are making in order to accommodate the form factor. One thing we can be assured of if that we’ll soon begin to see that the applications that become truly successful on the iPad are the ones people find both useful and usable.

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