Like many mobile applications my freeware is littered with ads.
I acknowledge that this reduces user experience for many but obviously I can't write software for free.
To limit the damage I've done a few things that skill keep the ad money flowing and the users as happy as possible.
I was faced with the following requirements:
- Ads have to bring in money. - Otherwise they just wasted my time and reduced user experience.
- Many users hate ads. - They slow things down and get in their way.
- Ads consume precious screen space. - They shouldn't take away from the content they are presented with.
- Keep Task Manager as a single hand application. - Users shouldn't have to use their other hand to navigate
These are the design decisions I made to address these requirements.
- The ad is placed at the top.
- After reading the recommendations for ad placement it boiled down to 2 areas. Place the ad at the top or bottom.
- Users tend to hold their phones with the palm cupped to the bottom-right for right handed and bottom left for left handed people. Because of this it is more convienient to hit an ad at the top of the screen than at the bottom.
- The ad itself blends in to the content.
- The ad is presented differently but it is apart of the task list.
- It behaves similarly to any other item in the list. If it is clicked it will send you to where it was described.
- The ad can be removed naturally.
- I wanted the ad to be easily removed because once the ad has been presented, interested users will click on it while the ones that don't care for it don't want it to annoy them.
- Ads eat a significant portion of the limited screen space that's available. They are designed well to minimize the space they use but they still consume space that is used. This is why I didn't want to have a static ad.
- The ad is part of the task list. So when the user scrolls the ad goes away as they would expect.
Below is a screenshot of the Task Manager application with an ad outlined in red.
Red - Ad space area.
Green - Most convienient area for tapping the screen.
Blue - Less convienent but still good for tapping the screen.
NOTE: The areas outlines themselves are very coarse. They are approximations based on 10 seconds of trial.
It is possible to hit all areas of the screen but the bottom right is the most unfomfortable area to reach (right handed) while the bottom itself requires the palm to be readjusted in order to hit those areas accurately. For those cases the user will probably swap hands, change orientation or use both hands.
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| Screen shot of the Task Manager free application. The Red area is where the ad is placed. Green is the most optimal for single hand tapping. Blue is ok but pushing it for single hand tapping. The uncovered areas are problematic. |
