Context-Free Shortcut Bar for Mobile App Navigation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Users of electronic devices face difficulties in navigating content due to the dependency on the current displayed content, requiring sequential actions to access specific pages or features, which can be time-consuming and inefficient.
Innovation Solution
A context-free navigation system and graphical user interface that utilizes a customizable shortcut bar on mobile devices, allowing users to swipe and move the shortcut bar to reveal options for quick access to various application components, features, and pages, independent of the current displayed content.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional content-dependent navigation is used, then users can access links and information within displayed content, but navigation requires sequential scrolling and multiple clicks that depend on current display state
Solution Approach 1:
The navigation system is segmented into two independent parts: a fixed shortcut bar providing direct access to key features, and the main content display area. This segmentation allows users to access frequently used functions without navigating through content, resolving the contradiction by providing both content exploration and efficient feature access pathways
Solution Approach 2:
The shortcut bar pre-positions navigation controls in a fixed location before the user needs them, rather than requiring users to search through content to find navigation options. This preliminary arrangement of navigation elements eliminates the need for sequential scrolling and multiple clicks, directly reducing access time while maintaining ease of operation
2Adaptability or versatility
If a fixed shortcut bar is added for context-free navigation, then access to features becomes independent of displayed content, but the device interface becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The shortcut bar serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides navigation controls, displays contextual information, and offers direct access to application features. By making this single interface element multi-functional, the system achieves navigation independence without proportionally increasing overall interface complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The shortcut bar is positioned in a separate dimensional space from the main content display, creating a layered interface structure. This spatial separation allows the navigation controls to operate independently of content context without cluttering the primary content area, managing complexity through dimensional organization
3Productivity
If traditional navigation through content pages is used, then all content can be accessed through sequential actions, but the number of clicks and navigational hops increases
Solution Approach 1:
Frequently accessed navigation controls and features are extracted from the main content flow and placed in the fixed shortcut bar. This extraction creates a direct pathway to key functions that bypasses the sequential content navigation required by traditional interfaces, increasing both access speed and reducing navigation steps
Data Source
AI summary
A system, method, apparatus and graphical user interface are provided for navigating a multi-component application or service—such as an application that executes on a mobile device and that includes multiple features, pages, content items, utilities, settings, etc. A shortcut bar provides rapid access to application components that correspond to multiple shortcuts, and the shortcut bar can be opened, by swiping it, to reveal a set of options associated with an open shortcut (e.g., the shortcut closest to where the user swiped on the bar). The options can be scrolled (e.g., vertically) or swiped in another direction (e.g., sideways) to access options associated with other shortcuts. The shortcut bar and the options provide set paths of navigation to desired content, without regard to the current context (e.g., the displayed content). Navigation paths to the content via the current context will vary, depending on the displayed content.