Comparing user experience in a news website across three devices: iPhone, iPad, and desktop

Mobile devices are becoming an increasingly important access channel for news resources and services. Even though providing a mobile site for mobile device users may greatly enhance their news reading experience, many news organizations cannot afford such an additional option due to limited funding and staffing resources. Therefore, an alternative approach is to design a full website with careful consideration of both desktop users and mobile users. This study compared user experiences in a news website accessed via mobile devices (iPhone & iPad) as well as desktop computers. We aimed to discover similar and different design requirements across desktop, iPad, and iPhone users. Users across three types of devices reported to have similar perspectives on the organization schemes of news, the importance of currency of news, the need for more powerful image search functions and algorithms, and better visibility of menus/buttons. Meanwhile, differences between mobile users and desktop users have also been identified: mobile users reported requirements of making more efficient use of space on web pages, less typing, more user control and flexibility, and more sharing options via social media. Based on the findings, we provided a series of recommendations for improving the design of a full site which can meet the needs of both mobile and desktop users.