Monday, January 25, 2016

mobile - How to best show connectivity


I am writing an app which heavily depends on having a connection to the host.


The app works fine with no connection it just doesn't send anything up or down.


Because it's a business type app the users NEED to be able to easily see when they have a connection.


I was thinking of using something simple like...




  • Red = no connection to internet.

  • Yellow = connection to internet but no connection to host.

  • Green = connection to host.


I was thinking of something really simple like putting a coloured circle into the status bar but I'm not sure that's even possible. (currently a question on SO).


I am looking for suggestions of other possible ways of doing this. Currently I'm just changing the colour of the navigation bar (until I can find something better). Changing the nav bar is too garish and confusing when using.



Answer



You shouldn't rely on just color for this. Most colorblind people cannot differentiate red and green, especially on very small icons. One possibility is to have some sort of network connectivity symbol to show when the connection exists and put a large red "X" over it when the connection is off. Use color to reinforce the symbol shape. Even spell out "Connected" and "Disconnected" if you have the space.


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