Mobile Times Call For Mobile Measures
It was quite surprising to learn that one third of the world's population owns a web-enabled mobile device (T-Mobile, Credit Suisse First Boston and Pyramid Research Report), and is expected to grow to half of the world's population in 4 years (Informa Telecoms & Media; 2007). Whether it's a feature phone, smart phone, or PDA, devices with wireless Internet access are popping up everywhere.
With ever-increasing technology, mobile devices are becoming more compact, integrated, and useful. Wireless internet access is great; but service is slow, there is limited space to view content, and most websites are not mobile-friendly.
As thought leaders in the web design/strategy industry, we should also consider aspiring to become leaders in the mobile design world, as this is where the online world is headed. Cameron Moll gives four methods for designing for the mobile web:
- Do Nothing
- Kill all styling and allow raw HTML to be rendered
- Use media="handheld" stylesheets
- Repurpose content, code, and images specifically for mobile users
The first three methods involve Miniaturizing while the last one attempts to Mobiliz web pages. These two terms are explained fully in Little Springs Design's article Mobilize, Don't Miniaturize. Miniaturizing treats the mobile environment and technology as a subset of the desktop environment. Current content and images are reformatted and resized for mobile screens. Mobilizing,on the other hand, precisely targets mobile user needs, making [the] best possible use of technology. It takes into consideration why the user is even looking at this content on a mobile device in the first place.
The University of Texas has understood the concept of mobilizing and has taken action to create a slimmed down, usable version of their website for mobile devices. UT Mobile has 8 options for the user to choose from, the top 2 being Directory/Search and Campus Maps. These first two options seem the most likely reasons why a student would want mobile access to the UT Website.
W3C is currently reviewing the mobileOK Basic scheme that would give websites a seal of approval for following "W3C's Mobile Web Best Practices." The hope is to increase the number of mobile-friendly websites.
If you are unsure of how your website displays in a mobile browser, emulate your current site or get your Mobi Ready score.
DotMobi, the domain registrar for the .mobi domain name, has put together a thorough and useful Mobile Web Developer's Guide for creating web pages for mobile devices. Here are some highlights from the guide:
- Keep the information architecture and design simple
- Ask yourself, Why should it be mobile? and What content should I make mobile?
- Limit the number of navigation levels
- Create a click-stream diagram with content layout and paths to content
- Use accesskeys (0-9) on links for keypad navigation
- Link to Home,ext and Back at the bottom of each page
- Sort links in order of popularity
- Use document styles rather than fully rely on external style sheets
- Width matters more than length when defining usability and attractiveness
- Tabs and columns do not work; use single column with left-justified text
- It is important to program for different mobile sizes, browsers, and capabilities
The point is, mobile web is the future and we cannot half-way account for it by miniaturizing what we already have. We must concentrate on how to best deliver content to mobile users by developing web pages specifically for them. In the long run, this will be the most valuable option for this growing market.
