Consistency Within vs. Across Devices

Question

I have a question geared more towards UI/UX Consistency rather than Branding Consistency.

We have an ability to "Save to Lists" on our website. On our desktop site, it is a dropdown. On our mobile site, it's a button that opens a modal (our company loves modals...).

We're looking to add this functionality to additional pages on the site. In this instance, there are three options:

1) Have a link on both sites that says "Save items to list". On mobile it would open a modal (consistent with other mobile page) but on desktop it would either open some type of flyout or a modal (inconsistent with other desktop page).

2) Have a dropdown on desktop (would act consistent with other desktop page) but on mobile the dropdown would be an entirely new treatment (dropdown, but pop modal only for a new list).

3) Use a dropdown on desktop (consistent with other desktop page) but a link on mobile (would be similar to other mobile page in interaction).

I hope this makes sense- tried to give a clear picture without giving an overbearing amount of information. Just trying to figure out the right path with stuff like this. Thank you!

Answer 1

Consistency is of course important, but it isn’t the main factor in UX. Ultimately, whatever solution is the easiest for the user to understand, in the channel they are in, is best.

With this in mind, I’d never try to make a desktop convention “fit” on mobile solely in the name of “consistency”. Rather, I’d find the best convention for mobile and then apply that everywhere on mobile that makes sense. Minus “expert users”, people generally remember and think about out UI choices WAY less than we’d like to think they do. Generally, they care about ease of use and time to complete an action, not style.

So, I think consistency that explicitly supports usability is good (I.e. I do one thing on a site and it feels a certain way, then I do a second thing and it’s a bit easier because it’s like the thing I JUST did).

For this reason, I’d go with your third option, or whatever is the best “usability” decision for each channel.