Multi Device Design

Thorn in your side.  What comes first – mobile or tablet?  Netflix has many devices to design to and this post by Luke Wroblewski is pretty powerful on what they did to get to their devices.  One thing that is clear – there is nothing that does everything well.  If you are a company like Netflix where you design for specific devices there are some great concepts that I have detailed below and you can read the full text of the post here.

• Over 400 SKUs have Netflix running on them (TVs and streaming players). You could give every manufacturer an SDK and guidelines and ask them to make things. But most manufacturers don’t want to build experiences themselves and they often have the skills or resources to do so. They prefer a platform.
• Netflix uses HTML5 on Web, Tablet, Mobile, and TV. Have used different WebKit platforms to manage this. On the TV, Netflix ported two instances of WebKit in order to deliver HTML5 solutions (QT and Skia). This allows the same team to build the same way across many devices. WebKit is Netflix’s application platform.
• Why HTML5? Server-driven dynamic UI, Web-style release vs. CE firmware updates, Support A/B Testing, Learn fast/Fail quickly, Chaos otherwise
• Netflix needs a server-driven UI so they can test lots of different variations. The PS3 interface had 16 variations and four experiences that were tested. Trying to manage this testing through certification processes (like those on TV manufacturers) takes way too long.
• Netflix chose a portability layer. But varies user experience across platforms (TV, Web, mobile, tablet)
• Whenever possible add a realistic, physical dimension to your application. The more true to life your application looks and behaves the easier it is for people to understand how it works and the more they enjoy using it.
• It must feel real. Make sure event handling is consistent. Remember fingers are fat. Real estate is limited.
• Where possible replace annoying hover details with dedicated detail panes.
• Animation can: reveal relationships, improve responsiveness, show state change, focus attention, create delight, and simulate physicality.
• MORE HERE!

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I like the idea that you should design for mobile first as the provide the most constraints and then grow from there.  At Netflix, this wasn’t the obvious mantra because they had Wii, TV and web that came first but I think they did a great job managing and meeting user expectations.   You rarely see poor ratings on the App store or Android Market for what they provide – well thought out execution.  This is never easy and you are never going to get it perfect, but given well thought out user testing and planning you should be able to make your experience meaningful and drive relationships based on your intended devices.