Writing for Mobile Users: Content Usability for Mobile Websites, Apps, and Email Newsletters
- Las Vegas: Wednesday, March 14
- Washington D.C.: Wednesday, May 16
Janelle Estes
Full-Day Training Course
How do we create well-written and scannable content when limited to a small device?
This seminar will discuss issues about writing specific to writing for mobile devices and tablets,
with a focus on smartphones and touch phones, the primary devices used for mobile Internet access.
The seminar covers the differences between writing for mobile and writing for tablets where applicable,
but the focus will be on writing for the small screen.
This seminar is based on international studies with participants ranging from students to early
technology adopters to business people reading content on a variety of mobile devices and tablets.
Writing for mobile devices is similar to writing for websites, except more rigorous. Some of the
principles covered in this course are similar to Writing for the Web 1
and Writing for the Web 2. However, the focus is specific to mobile use
and design.
Course Outline
- Reading behaviors on mobile devices
- What users read
- When users read
- Where users read
- Different usage at different times
- Writing content for multiple formats
- Desktop sites vs. mobile sites
- Mobile sites vs. mobile apps
- Email newsletters accessed on mobile
- Social media
- Creating consistency across formats
- Writing content for mobile consumption
- Writing for fast comprehension
- Writing for interruptions
- Formatting content for scannability
- Creating legible and readable content
- Structuring complex content
- Providing content for various activities
- Browsing and exploration
- News, entertainment, sports
- Reading for pleasure, killing time
- Locating specific details or information
- Completing transactions
- Online banking, e-commerce purchases
- Shopping
- Price comparisons, store locations
- Tips for frequently accessed content
- Homepage
- Landing pages
- Deep link pages
- PDFs
- Newsletters and email
- Describing applications in the App Store, Android Market, etc.
Format
This full-day tutorial includes lectures, video highlights from user testing, and some exercises.
Handouts
Copies of the presentation slides
Who Should Attend
If users are accessing your content—via your website, mobile site, app or email
newsletters—on a mobile device or tablet, this course is for you; Web designers, intranet contributors,
online and technical writers and editors, usability engineers, sales and marketing professionals, and managers
of these functions. Although there are no prerequisites, a general knowledge of Web usability issues and some
general experience with writing are useful.
Related
This course is an extension of Writing for the Web 1
and Writing for the Web 2, and is geared towards individuals who create, write, and
manage content for consumption on mobile devices and tablets. This course also expands on the basic content findings
covered in Mobile User Experience 1 and Mobile User Experience 2.
You should also attend the two Mobile User Experience seminars if you are interested in the many additional mobile design
issues besides the content.
Instructor
Janelle Estes is a User Experience Specialist with Nielsen Norman Group.
She works with clients in a variety of industries and presents regularly about usability methods, email newsletters,
writing for the Web, and the user experience of nonprofit websites. She has been the primary researcher on and
co-author of several NN/g reports, including email newsletters, transactional email messages, donation usability
for non-profit and charity websites, and social media. Prior to joining NN/g, Estes was a research associate on
the Customer Experience team at Forrester Research, where she was involved with many research efforts related to
user experience and user centered design. Additionally, Estes has worked as a user experience consultant with
companies across many industries, including retail, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and
telecommunications. Most recently, Estes worked at Chordiant Software as a Human Factors Engineer in an agile
development environment. Estes holds a BS in Information Design and Corporate Communication, and an MS in Human
Factors in Information Design, both from Bentley University.
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