Task Continuity and Mobile User Interfaces

Task continuity is an important inter-usability attribute, for enhancing user transitioning experience. Mobile devices are commonly used in cross-device interaction, in combination with desktops or laptops devices. However, a lack of studies explored and compared factors affecting task continuity when users transit to and from the different types of mobile user interfaces: native mobile application, mobile website and mobile responsive website. To address this, we conducted a user study, with twenty-four voluntary participants, to investigate factors affecting task continuity when users switch between desktop website and the different types of mobile user interfaces. We used think-aloud protocols, observation and questionnaire to gather data. During our experiments, each participant switched between desktop and mobile interfaces to perform inter-related tasks. Inconsistency was a principle factor affecting task continuity when participants switched from and to mobile native applications and mobile websites. The difficulty in controlling user interface components and the slow loading of contents were two main factors affecting task continuity when users switched to continue working on mobile websites and mobile responsive websites.