3.10. Take It From the Top

The most important or frequently used info should float to the top of the screen above the app's primary buttons and controls. This meets our expectations not only of graphic design—headlines at the top—but also the way we hoist and handle just about any physical device. The screen bottom is the most comfortable thumb zone for a handheld gadget, but that's also where the screen is most likely to be obscured by hovering hands. To keep info in clear view, position it above your app's controls. This is a familiar, common-sense layout that applies to most physical devices—iPods, calculators, cell phones, bathroom scales, you name it. Here again, though, it's the opposite of what we'd expect from Web and desktop software where toolbars and menus stake out the top of document windows with primary content below.

Figure 3-18. Tapworthy apps follow an interface convention familiar with all kinds of mechanical devices. Even when they don't directly mimic real-world gadgets, they organize controls at the bottom and content on top. From left, Cleartune, Weightbot, and iPod.