Designing for a guided experience

When you design a Spotfire analysis for use on a small mobile device, provide easy-to-use forward and back buttons for a guided experience.

About this task

The standard forward and back buttons in the Spotfire user interface are too small for the typical target size hands and fingers. By putting visualization pages in a logical order to guide the user, and then creating a small text area with forward and back buttons to help direct the user, you can create a better experience.

Tip: The following is a suggested order of steps; however, they do not need to be done in this order. Also, you might find that you need to iterate through the design a few times to create the most suitable display for the analysis.

Procedure

In Spotfire Analyst, create the visualizations that work with your proposed dashboard.
- Review the types of visualizations that work best on a small screen.
- Limit the number of visualizations to one or two per page.
Adjust the Spotfire Analyst window to the approximate size of the target display.
This step shows you which controls are obscuring the visualization.
Tip: You might have to readjust the size over several iterations of your design. Save the dimensions for additional testing.
Configure the dashboard according to the guidelines listed in Design for limited screen area.
Add a Text Area to contain guidance text and action and dynamic controls for guided navigation.
You might need forward and back buttons, sized appropriately for touch control on a small screen.
Select the Edit mode button, and then add and arrange the action controls within the target display dimensions, with enough padding for discrete use.
Assign the arrow images or buttons for next and previous to the visualizations you want to display when those controls are touched in a guided experience.
Add dynamic controls as required to the Text Area.
Sparklines, calculated values, a bullet graph, or icons that trigger specific supported functions can direct the user experience. See the Spotfire Analyst help for more information.
Repeat Step 4 to Step 6 for each page of the dashboard, as needed.
Periodically save and test the visualization on a target small-screen mobile device.

Tip: If you do not have access to a target mobile device, you can use one of the simulators available on the Internet.