Four iOS Interface Patterns That Work Badly
User experience company Nielsen Norman Group has posted an article pointing out problems with four official iOS interface patterns: page control dots, form submission links at the top, the plus icon, and the move icon. The authors aren’t speaking theoretically — these design patterns fail in actual usability testing — and they both give specific examples of each criticism and offer alternative approaches. In other words, if you’ve had trouble with an app that uses these interface controls, it’s not just you.
Why not just use words? Move and Menu and Add are no larger than the icons currently used. (I know, the obvious answer is other languages.) Still, I wish people would realize words are just icons to start with.