Browser Orientation Controls: Don’t Bother!

tl;dr, they are difficult to implement and confusing to users

Americans, myself included, spend an absurd amount of time on our phones. Some sources say that may be as high as 5 hours and 25 minutes per day, we are truly addicted! I’m curious, though, why do so few applications take advantage of real-time orientation and acceleration data from our phones? What if you could rotate your phone to navigate websites or shake it left to go backwards and right to go forwards? Why is this control method so rarely used despite the possibilities?

To answer this, I built a browser game where you control a snowboarder by tilting your phone. It seemed like a fun and novel idea, but despite the cool factor, I do NOT recommend using orientation controls unless you have a compelling reason.

Here’s why:

1. User confusion: While I could control the snowboarder easily, my friends struggled. It turns out it’s really difficult to communicate the ‘correct’ way to tilt the phone. Most people couldn’t get the snowboarder to go where they wanted without hands-on guidance.

2. Complex Implementation: You need to account for every possible orientation someone might hold their phone. Whether they’re lying down, holding the phone above their head, or using it in portrait or landscape mode, each scenario requires different calculations. This makes development a lot more complex and prone to errors.

You can play it here! Have fun and thanks for reading!