Sliders in mobile apps are a convenient and an intuitive navigation tool that helps users make quick selections or change the mobile interface by a quick gesture in a dynamically pleasant way. Manipulating the mobile phone environment by sliding is not a feature which applies only to image galleries. Slider controls have now become a standard for users to choose promptly within a range of many variations.
Bank loans, insurance packages, mobile plans, travel routes and basically anything that has several metrical or multiple-choice variables are the center stage of customer-centric slider-control mobile technology. When users have thousands of small decisions to make each day on their smartphones, it is the job of app developers to help them hit the right spot in the variety of choices. The perfect slider has many building blocks, and despite the fact -that many android app development projects have awed customers, many fail in getting to the desired goal only because critical points have not been considered along the way.
Sometimes, slider controls are not really necessary. But, when it comes to continuous numerical values, they are irreplaceable. Imagine how would customers feel if they had to enter all air miles in a travel itinerary or all credit score factors by hand! Having a well-designed slider control is a time-saver. Moving the fingers across the screen is not only a shortcut to quick decision-making, but also an artistic experience, such as when users adjust screen brightness or warm up the blissful effects of a summer photography. These experiences are a peak of the customer delight. So, how can we make customers love the sliders we have developed? A good place to start is to keep in mind what slider controls can and cannot do, review their strengths and weaknesses, and ask the right questions before we get on with the next app development project.
The Potential of Slider Controls for App Development
Despite its simplistic basic structure, a slider control is a challenge for android app developers, as it can morph into many different shapes. Between the thumb and the track, designers have plenty of leeways to enable customers the ideal way to go for their preference from the optional range values.
What can a user do with a slider control? These are only a few of the options:
The key element to keep in mind when designing slider controls is the match between the control and the screen visualization. Changes in the control result in screen changes, such as swapping between single levels, and shifting from one to the other tier or position. To be able to reflect that on the interface, UX designers need to speak the language of the customer. Needless to say, this is a rule you don’t want to miss out on! Now that we’ve established what slider controls can do, let us look into the main pros and cons of slider controls in android app development.
The Benefits of Slider Controls
Translating the physical world onto the screen is not only intuitive, but also a way to use digital features as a make-believe substitute for a real-life action. On a brink of wider AR presence in mobile app development, the symbolics of slider controls is getting more important. They can work magic in illustrating the flexibility a user has with a multitude of options - like measuring the right fit of a smart home device for the housing space or calculating the maximum loan amount bearable across various time selections. As much as we like a great budget forecasting tool to save money, we also like to save time and space. And slide controls invariably do so.
When Sliders Are Not the Ideal Mobile Navigation Option
Regardless of how neat and concise can slider controls be, they definitely don’t work for specific selections. For example, when someone needs to enter precise lab result levels that are used in medical diagnosis to set the further treatment. Fat thumbs are not the best friends of life-changing choices! Whenever users need to use an android app to provide or select very detailed information, it is best if you cut down the navigation to fewer available choices. Use the good old drop-down menus or radio buttons. Sliding your fingers only between three choices is not only redundant, but also seems weird and unnatural from a user’s perspective.
Questions to Ask Before You Start
There are a couple of questions you need to consider before deciding to base the navigation in your next android app development project on slider controls. When switching between the pros and the cons, think of how you can optimize the space for your current project and how to design the track, the knob or the thumb and the labels within the space provided. Paying attention to how you can visually present the slider track changes with the thumb movements, choose the right shapes and sizes, and incorporate text widgets and images in a dynamic panel is a must.
Things to Keep in Mind to Design Functional Slider Controls
If you are working with interval values, your track must be designed in a way that helps users be certain that they have specified their preferred choice in the range of options. It can be irritating when a user needs to wiggle in the slider space without knowing what exactly is the limit of a specific option. Sliders are dynamic, so, users expect some reaction as they move along the track, only to feel confident in what they are doing. There is a wide array of feedback options, but if you are not making it visual, make sure the user gets a clear overview of how the gesture translates on the track. Try doing it with micro-interactions. In the end, it is worth considering what is the average finger size of your typical user - pick up the right shapes, labels and colors and you are good to go.
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