Influence of Mobile Device Categories on the Usability of Mobile Website Categories
This research investigates the influence of mobile device categories on the usability of mobile website categories. The mobile website categories investigated were, News, Search, Service, Portal, and Media Sharing Website categories. And the mobile device categories used were, Touch Screen Mobile Phones (TSMP), Non-Touch Screen Mobile Phones (NTSMP) and Tablet PCs respectively. The objective is to investigate some mobile usability issues that may be encountered when using mobile devices selected from the mobile device categories to access the five website categories mentioned above with the view to finding their influence on the usability of the websites and make some useful recommendations as to their usage. 75 usability tests were carried out remotely. Results indicate that all the three mobile device categories recorded high to very high usability with the five categories of mobile websites because very small usability issues were found in them, indicating that mobile device categories have little or no influence on the five mobile websites. Based on the investigations carried out, touch screen phones are recommended for News and Search Websites while Tablet PCs are recommended for Service, Portal and Media Sharing Websites. Smartphones with physical keyboard are not convenient for browsing websites.
Keywords: Influence, Mobile Device, Mobile Website, Usability, Usability Issues
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Olekwu Benjamin Elah
Dr. O. B. Ella is an Associate Professor in the Department of Building, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria. He holds B. Sc. Degree in Building in 1986, M. Sc. Degree in Construction Technology in 1992 and Ph. D in Civil Engineering in 2002. He has just completed another M. Sc. Degree in Information System and Technology from University of Liverpool and awaiting the result in December, 2013. Dr. Ella was a former Rector of Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, Benue State, Nigeria between 2003 and 2011. He had some wealth of experience from the construction industry through practices with the consulting firm, Wuro Associates and the construction company, Bakabo Nigeria Limited all in Kano, Kano State, Nigeria. He is a recipient of not less than twenty seven awards and has attended not less than twenty conferences/workshops nationally and internationally. He has published two textbooks and several articles in reputable journals. Dr. Ella’s areas of research interest include development and application of construction materials, particularly local construction materials.
Olekwu Benjamin Elah
Dr. O. B. Ella is an Associate Professor in the Department of Building, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria. He holds B. Sc. Degree in Building in 1986, M. Sc. Degree in Construction Technology in 1992 and Ph. D in Civil Engineering in 2002. He has just completed another M. Sc. Degree in Information System and Technology from University of Liverpool and awaiting the result in December, 2013. Dr. Ella was a former Rector of Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, Benue State, Nigeria between 2003 and 2011. He had some wealth of experience from the construction industry through practices with the consulting firm, Wuro Associates and the construction company, Bakabo Nigeria Limited all in Kano, Kano State, Nigeria. He is a recipient of not less than twenty seven awards and has attended not less than twenty conferences/workshops nationally and internationally. He has published two textbooks and several articles in reputable journals. Dr. Ella’s areas of research interest include development and application of construction materials, particularly local construction materials.
