My mobile application has 6 cards. At any given time the user would view only one card. However, the user has an option to swipe left/right and view a different card. I am having a hard time deciding between the two layouts.
Version 1: Show only one card on the screen and display dots at the bottom to let the user know that there are more cards.
Version 2: Show one card and display the edge of the previous and next card.
Please share your thoughts.
I asked a similar question before and received similar answers:
Do users recognize "slideable" areas with dots as indicators for multiple images?
On one hand it is true that such indicators can be easily missed.
On the other hand, you have to give up some space to show the edges of those other cards, which could make readability of your card worse. Or it can require to create an extra detail page, to view that card content in full view.
As one of the comments on my question suggests, it also depends on the type of app. Is it a native mobile app or a web app?
In the case of a native app you can use an interaction preview or on-boarding to indicate the possibility of swipe, as in this example:
In addition to this, making the indicators visible and hard to miss drastically lowers the potential to overlook them:
(Source)
Of course it doesn't have to be this "jumpy", but simply making the dots bigger can already do a lot.
This article should give you a better perspective on the use of Carousels on mobiles - Carousels on Mobile Devices
Dots are generally weak signifiers which basically means that they could be overlooked or missed if the size/color/contrast is not appropriate.
Half images are strong signifiers as they create an illusion of continuity.
I personally prefer Version 2.
