Apryse · Product Designer · 2022
Full-screen panels buried the PDF on mobile. Three platforms audited side by side; every urgent problem traced to one component.
40
client survey responses
Survey emailed to all WebViewer clients · 2022
3
platforms audited side by side
WebViewer SDK mobile view · Xodo Android · Xodo iOS
Context
The team aimed to improve mobile experience for the PDF SDK product, conducting user surveys and deep heuristic evaluation across WebViewer SDK's mobile view and Xodo's Android/iOS platforms. Key findings identified that panel design, popup modals, and tool use indicators required improvement.
The mess
In our study of the mobile experience for our PDF SDK product, we found that the experience across different platforms was similar, but not identical. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, we identified some areas where the design of the panels and popup modals in the mobile view could be improved to enhance the user experience.
The current design of the panels was not user-friendly and disrupted the flow of the user's actions. In particular, the full-screen panels made it difficult for users to interact directly with the PDF pages, which hindered their ability to use the product effectively.
The popup modals were sometimes too large, which obscured important information on the PDF. This did not affect the functionality of the tools, but it could be frustrating for users who were trying to view the PDF content.
What I did
We implemented a panel defaulted to a half-screen view, allowing the user to expand and unexpand it as needed. This gave users the flexibility to interact with the PDF pages without sacrificing the ability to access the panel's tools and features.
Upon observation, we discovered that several tools categorized as 'urgent' shared a common component. In light of this insight, we concluded that it would be more beneficial to maintain the existing flow utilized by these tools while focusing on improving the usability of the specific component causing mobile responsiveness issues.
Evidence
Although this number was less than half of the users that participated in this survey, we believed that improving the overall mobile experience would encourage more clients to use it. Additionally, we wanted to support our clients who had a high percentage of mobile users or native mobile apps to maintain their business with us.
Competitors prioritized desktop and tablet views while neglecting mobile user-friendliness.
What 40 clients said about mobile
Survey emailed to all WebViewer clients · 40 responses · 2022
What shipped
The results of our study of the mobile experience for our PDF SDK product were positive to the internal PDFTron team. Not all of the features have been fully fleshed out and designed yet, but we are hoping that clients and end users will find the mobile experience more enjoyable.
Still open
Other areas of the mobile experience this audit flagged were left for later rounds. What went out in 2022 is the responsive behaviour: the panels, the toolbar, and the document keeping half its screen.
Fix the component, not every tool.
Configuration is an interface, even when it never opens a window.
No outcome numbers on this one, and the later phases are not mine to announce.