Design Message notification implementation methods for Android 4.0 and iOS5

As one of the major updates to iOS5, the notification center can place all notifications on users' iOS devices in one place, making it easier for users to view and manage them. If a user receives a new email, a text message, or a friend adding request, the user can slide down from the top of the screen regardless of the interface (including full screen applications such as games, pull the notification center down. You can view all notifications here. So Apple mentioned in iOS5 that the notification center is an excellent way for you to keep abreast of the latest information.

Possible notification scenarios

In the following scenarios, iOS apps will notify users of interesting things:

1. receive a message

2. Something will happen soon

3. New data available for download

4. The status of some things has changed

Four types of iOS5 notifications

1. Banner)

The banner notification is a new feature in iOS5. It is a horizontal bar displayed on the top of the screen. It will automatically disappear in a few seconds. A banner notification displays the small icons of the Program (29 × 29 icons are displayed on the low split screen, 58 × 58 icons are displayed on the high split screen), the program name, and the notification content. The small icon helps users to see at a glance which application is reminding them.

2. Reminder (Alert)

The reminder notification does not disappear automatically. You must interact with the notification to disable it. The designer needs to design the specific content of the notification, and sometimes also needs to design the title using the action button (which will be discussed later. The background style of the whole reminder notification, including the button style in it, is immutable, so designers and developers should not be creative here. Because of its openness, Android can use self-designed controls, while iOS may do so to maintain UI style consistency.

 

3. Mark (Badge)

 

A tag notification is a red oval icon in the upper right corner of the program icon. The number displayed in the tag indicates the number of notifications to be processed by the user. Similarly, the color, shape, and size of the tag cannot be changed. The number of updated applications in the App Store and the number of unread emails received in Mail are marked to notify users.

4. Sound)

Voice notification is also a notification method for iOS. It supports customization and can be used with the preceding three notification types.

Local notifications and push notifications

IOS apps will use local notifications or push notifications to remind users:

1. Local notification

Local notifications of an application are generated and published by the user's iOS device, regardless of whether the application runs on the frontend. Like a calendar application or a to-do list application, you can send a local notification to remind users that a meeting is about to begin.

2. push notifications

The Push Notification of an application is released as follows: the remote server (Provider) of the application first sends a Notification to Apple's Push Notification service (APNS ), the Notification Server of apple then pushes the notification to all iOS devices installed with the application.

To use push notifications, you must first register the types of notifications you want to use in the push notification service of apple, for example, the following code indicates that two types of notifications, tag and sound, are registered simultaneously:

-(Void) applicationDidFinishLaunching :( UIApplication *) app {

// Other setup tasks here ....

[[UIApplication sharedApplication] registerForRemoteNotificationTypes :( UIRemoteNotificationTypeBadge | uiremotenotiftypetypesound)];

How to use various notifications

Apps that use local notifications can use banners, reminders, tags, and sounds. However, apps that use push notifications must first register the types of notifications to use.

Pay attention to the following points when using notifications:

1. Ensure that the marked content is up-to-date

2. Do not send multiple notifications to the same event

3. The notification content does not need to contain the application name

For tag notifications, when all items are resolved, the tag will automatically disappear.

In banners, reminders, and the notification center on the top, iOS automatically displays the application name in the message. Therefore, when designing the notification content, you do not need to include the app name.

Note the following when designing the notification content:

1. Focus on the expression of information, rather than user actions. Avoid prompting the user which button to click or how to open the app

2. Short, preferably no more than two rows. It is difficult to read long information quickly, and there must be a scroll bar.

3. Use the sentence capitalized (sentence-style capitalization, the first letter of the first word capitalized) and appropriate punctuation marks, ending with generally use periods

"Reminder"

A reminder may contain one or two buttons. For reminders with two buttons, you need to put the button for closing the reminder on the left and the action button on the right.

Click the button on the left to close the reminder. click the button on the right to close the reminder and open the application.

If there is only one button, this button should be a confirmation button.

 

Clicking this OK button will only close the reminder and will not open the application.

Note the following when designing the title of the action button:

1. The title can accurately describe the action of opening an application. For example, you can click the Play button to open the game and immediately Play it.

2. Use title-style capitalization to uppercase the first letter of each word)

3. Brief enough

When you receive a new notification when you lock the screen, the title of the action button will be displayed in the "slide to view" information, replacing the word "view, and convert all letters to lowercase letters.

About "sound"

When a user does not use a mobile phone, the voice can attract their attention. This prevents the user from missing important information.

We can use the built-in sound or custom sound. If you use a custom sound, make sure it is short enough and carefully crafted.

About "notification bar"

As long as the screen is not locked, the notification center can be opened from the top of the screen.

In a game, such as fruit ninja, iOS5 makes it easier to open the notification center to prevent your fingers from slipping out of the screen: A drop-down entry similar to a non-slip pattern appears from the top of the screen, and then drag it down again to open the notification center. Otherwise, the drop-down record is automatically collapsed several seconds later. The design with a slide drop-down bar can help new users quickly create a mental model of the pull-down open notification center.

 

IOS5 organizes the notifications in the drop-down notification bar. The notifications of the same app are grouped in chronological order. To delete a notification message of an app, you need to click the "X" button on the right and change the "X" button to "clear". You can click "clear" again to remove all notifications under the app. The two-step operation reduces the probability of accidental deletion, and the interactive form is much more friendly than the common pop-up mode window with secondary confirmation.

 

Other platform notification systems

1. Android 4.0

The notice bar of Android4.0 is the same as that of the previous Android systems. It is also pulled down from the top of the screen, the difference between the notification bar of iOS and Android is that you can drag a notification to the left to remove the notification.

 

The Dialog Notification of Android is similar to Alert of iOS, and must be processed immediately before the Notification can be removed.

2. webOS
The webOS notification bar is located at the bottom of the screen. When a new notification is received, the corresponding application icon is displayed in the notification bar. You can click the notification bar to view the summary of all notifications, and press a summary to the left or right to remove the notification from the notification bar.

 

 

Since Windows Phone uses a unique Metro UI, each Tile (also called its Tile) can bear more information. The title, background, and number of tips of the tile can be changed to remind users.

 

The Windows Phone's Toast javasicatoin is similar to the iOS Banner notification. It is also displayed at the top of the screen and disappears after a period of time.

 

 

Summary

In iOS, there were only three notification methods: Alert, Banner, and Sound. Therefore, a notification is often sent when an app is used, directly interrupting the user's operations, this approach is very rude and hurts users' emotions.

The newly added Banner notification of iOS5 solves this problem, bringing iOS closer to Android in message reminder processing. In addition, iOS5 also places weather, stock, and other information in the notification center to make up for the inability to place plug-ins on the home page. This may be seen as a warning that Apple will give the notification center more powerful features in the future.

Properly Select Local notifications and push notifications, and select the correct notification type. Designing standard notification content is a must for all user experience designers.

 

From Android brick house