Place Mobile Actions in the Middle of the Screen
People favor touching and reading the middle of a phone screen, and targets at the edges and corners are harder and slower to hit (UXmatters, 2017). Hoober’s 2013 drawings of thumb reach were widely used to argue that key buttons belong in the arc a right thumb can reach. Hoober later said those drawings should be ignored (UXmatters, 2013).
What the research observed
Hoober’s original work came from field observations of how people hold and use their phones. It found that people hold phones in several ways: with one hand, cradled in one hand while tapping with the other, or with both hands. A layout built around one thumb on one side fits only some of those grips.
His later work shifted the focus from reach to where people actually look and touch. People gravitate to the middle of the screen for both reading and tapping. Edges and corners take more effort to hit accurately, so taps there are slower and more often miss.
What it means for a business website
Many mobile templates still follow the thumb-arc idea, with a floating button pinned to the bottom-right corner or key actions pushed into one side. Under the later guidance, the main action belongs in the middle region of the screen, where people are already looking and tapping.
For a local business, the main mobile action is often a call or a booking. That button should be easy to hit with either hand.
What to do
- Put the primary action on each mobile screen, such as “Call now” or “Book a visit,” in the middle region rather than a corner.
- Keep navigation and secondary actions along the top or bottom edge.
- Keep rare or destructive actions away from easy-tap spots, but do not hide them.
- Test on a real phone with your own fingers to check that your hand does not cover key content.
Sources
- Hoober. How Do Users Really Hold Mobile Devices?. UXmatters, 2013.
- Hoober. Design for Fingers, Touch, and People, Part 3. UXmatters, 2017.