Mobile UI usability - should navigation/aciton bars go at the top or bottom? [closed]

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Closed 9 years ago.

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I'm designing a new application for Android and trying to decide where best to place my navigation/action bar. Most of the apps I have installed which have a navigation/action bar seem to have this located at the top of the screen (example 1, example 2, example 3). With today's bigger screens this often means for people with smaller hands having to use two hands to reach it (e.g. one hand to hold the phone and another to touch the screen). If this was placed at the bottom instead, then navigation/actions could be accomplished using one hand (e.g. holding the phone with one hand and using your thumb to access content on the lower portion of your phone easily) which seems to me a better user experience. This would also place all 'actions' including back button, menu button, etc. all in the one area rather than split between application content.

I suppose the biggest selling point that I see for the top location is that users are familiar with this paradigm from desktop computing. Is this the sole reason for putting it there or are there legitimate UI reasons on a mobile platform? Can anyone provide examples of popular Android apps with navigation/action bars at the bottom? Is there a general best practice for Mobile UIs for this scenario? Any blogs/material on the subject would be most welcome too.

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Top. Honeycomb puts it at the top, and you probably want to be consistent with the OS.

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The Android Design guidelines say put them at the top:

Per platform convention, Android's tabs for view control are shown in action bars at the top of the screen instead. In addition, Android apps may use a bottom bar to display actions on a split action bar.

In addition, many devices such as the HTC Wildfire have hardware 'buttons' which are really part of the touch screen, and are activated on contact. They are easily pressed by mistake and this can be very frustrating.

These buttons are now a part of the Navigation Bar or System Bar in Android 3.0 onwards.

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I find it more ergonomic to have navigation at the top. Look at how you hold your phone when using one hand. The thumb is just sitting there ready to tap on things at the top of the screen (except for the near tablet sized devices). You really have to hold the device awkwardly in order to use the bottom nav with one hand. Also, the virtual keyboard never obscures the top navigation which is another tip in top nav's favor. http://mobile.dzone.com/news/tabs-top-or-bottom

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I nestle the right corner of the phone in the center of my right palm. My thumb naturally reaches 1.75 centimeters down from the top left corner.

When I play Words with Friends it's always a stretch to reach the top left home button. I have longer fingers than most women.

Second, I dislike action buttons on the bottom right. That also feels awkward.

The ideal position for me would be 1/4 of the way from the top, or in the bottom left corner. Yet this is not standard. Am I alone?

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I find it easier to reach on the bottom. It seems that many iPhone apps do it on the bottom (I wonder if that is an os leaning). With the home button at the bottom it seems to make sense there. Then any content can be scrolled for a comfortable access to touch links.