iPad apps are inconsistent and have low feature discoverability, with frequent user errors due to accidental gestures, Danish usability guru Jacob Nielsen slams.

According to the Guardian’s technology blogger Jack Schofield, Nielsen, who has just published a 93-page report on iPad usability, was expecting more of the device.

Nielsen said: “There were really a lot of usability problems in this first-generation of iPad applications. It’s often quite difficult for people to discover what they have to do because the options are not very visible.”

Nielsen admired the attractive look of both the device and the content but said overemphasising the attractiveness has resulted in hiding some of the functionality and has thus diminished usability.

“For example, they don’t have some standard things like font size control so you can define big, small or medium text. With no font preferences, every designer can do a picture-perfect layout on every screen, because they don’t have to reflow the text accordingly, which is what websites should always do.”

In the Adobe Flash vs. HTML5 debate Nielsen said he’s – for once – on the side of Flash.

He said: “I think Apple is trying to over-rigidly control what’s on its devices. I can understand there are benefits to doing that, but there are also benefits to the diversity of the internet.

“Five years from now, it’s likely that HTML5 will be a better way of doing video – it’s a very good long-term trend – but that doesn’t mean you should throw out all the existing stuff now.”

Read Nielsen first findings from iPad user testing here:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ipad.html

Or download the full report here:
http://www.nngroup.com/reports/mobile/ipad/

Source: The Guardian