LinkedIn launched it's new iPhone app on Oct 23rd. Here's a quick review of the app.
Home Screen:
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1. The slider-design approach puts all menu items at the top level instantly. Just swipe right and you'll see all the top level menu items such as jobs, companies and groups that you can navigate to.
On the top you'll see "Home" icon/menu item that displays selected current news feed items like a rotating banner on your web page. This is the most annoying of all features I have encountered with this app. It could have been better designed by displaying the total number of unread stories instead of using the web-style rotational banners.
Below the Home menu/icon is your "Profile". Tapping on it shows you all your recent activity, your connections, your groups and the companies you are following. The screen also lets you update your profile from the device - pretty cool!
Notifications:
2. Notifications occupy the top bar on the screen and are visible from the Home screen. If you are browsing jobs or participating in groups, the notifications are not visible to you. I wish they had made notifications visible from any screen like in the Facebook app. Another unexpected behavior of the notifications design is that when you tap on any notification icon, the screen slides from right to left leaving you starring at the screen for sometime to comprehend this behavior. The ideal approach would have been to slide the screen from the top or simply not use a slider approach at all.
News Feed Screen:
The news feed screen shows "Top Stories" on the top and then continues with other items in your feed. It's generally well done but the comment box at the bottom gives a little web feel to it which could have been avoided by making it a simple text link. There is no added advantage to making it an input box.
Top News Stories:
This screen will throw you off a bit at first. You'll notice that some stories use a large image with text super imposed over it and others use an image and text combination. This interface looks a little confusing as your eye constantly shifts when you are trying to scroll down and pick a story that interests you. LinkedIn for no specific reason has chosen to go with a 1-2 pattern on this screen. Every third story is shown as a large image. It would have been more easier on the eye if they went with a single pattern instead of this alternating pattern.
Functionality:
Overall the app exposes almost all the features that are currently available via the web and makes it easy to participate in group discussions, browse job listings or catch up on the news feed.
Home Screen:
.PNG)
1. The slider-design approach puts all menu items at the top level instantly. Just swipe right and you'll see all the top level menu items such as jobs, companies and groups that you can navigate to.On the top you'll see "Home" icon/menu item that displays selected current news feed items like a rotating banner on your web page. This is the most annoying of all features I have encountered with this app. It could have been better designed by displaying the total number of unread stories instead of using the web-style rotational banners.
Below the Home menu/icon is your "Profile". Tapping on it shows you all your recent activity, your connections, your groups and the companies you are following. The screen also lets you update your profile from the device - pretty cool!
Notifications:
2. Notifications occupy the top bar on the screen and are visible from the Home screen. If you are browsing jobs or participating in groups, the notifications are not visible to you. I wish they had made notifications visible from any screen like in the Facebook app. Another unexpected behavior of the notifications design is that when you tap on any notification icon, the screen slides from right to left leaving you starring at the screen for sometime to comprehend this behavior. The ideal approach would have been to slide the screen from the top or simply not use a slider approach at all.
News Feed Screen:
The news feed screen shows "Top Stories" on the top and then continues with other items in your feed. It's generally well done but the comment box at the bottom gives a little web feel to it which could have been avoided by making it a simple text link. There is no added advantage to making it an input box.Top News Stories:
This screen will throw you off a bit at first. You'll notice that some stories use a large image with text super imposed over it and others use an image and text combination. This interface looks a little confusing as your eye constantly shifts when you are trying to scroll down and pick a story that interests you. LinkedIn for no specific reason has chosen to go with a 1-2 pattern on this screen. Every third story is shown as a large image. It would have been more easier on the eye if they went with a single pattern instead of this alternating pattern.
Functionality:
Overall the app exposes almost all the features that are currently available via the web and makes it easy to participate in group discussions, browse job listings or catch up on the news feed.
