Understanding information preview in mobile email processing
Venue
Mobile HCI, ACM (2011), pp. 303-312
Publication Year
2011
Authors
Kimberly A. Weaver, Huahai Yang, Shumin Zhai
BibTeX
Abstract
Browsing a collection of information on a mobile device is a common task, yet it
can be difficult due to the small size of mobile displays. A common trade-off
offered by many current mobile interfaces is to allow users to switch between an
overview and detailed views of particular items. An open question is how much
preview of each item to include in the overview. Using a mobile email processing
task, we attempted to answer that question. We investigated participants' email
processing behaviors under differing preview conditions in a semi-controlled,
naturalistic study. We collected log data of participants' actual behaviors as well
as their subjective impressions of different conditions. Our results suggest that a
moderate level of two to three lines of preview should be the default. The overall
benefit of a moderate amount of preview was supported by both positive subjective
ratings and fewer transitions between the overview and individual items.
