The mobile web and why your website is going there, ready or not
The often hyped "Mobile Web" is real, it's here and your website is already being "mobilised" whether you're ready or not. So, what is it? and what are the implications for web designers and website owners?
The mobile web refers to accessing the World Wide Web and other browser-based services on mobile devices such as smart phones and PDAs. One day in the not too distant future we'll no doubt have web browsers embedded in every conceivable device from watches and sunglasses to toilet rolls and chopping blocks.
Already the number of mobile web users has passed the number of PC based users and is still climbing exponentially. So, far from being a niche segment, the mobile web will be the default at some point when most people are visiting your site from some smart gadget of the future that is no longer tied to the desktop and landline internet access.
One such device that is here already is the Apple iPhone, at 30 million and counting they are selling very well and, along with 20 million iPod Touches, now command around 67% of the mobile browser share. With over 3.3 billion active mobile phone subscriptions in the world (at 6.6 billion people in the world there's a mobile for every second person) the iPhone is far from the dominant device or platform, but what makes them so revolutionary for the mobile web is that they are the first device to have a decent bundled browser that doesn't make the web feel like it's running on an old 14.4Kbps modem. More importantly still is that the Mobile Safari browser, like its desktop equivalent and unlike all the versions of Internet Explorer, conforms 100% to web standards and CSS specifications so that web developers can be confident that our websites will be rendered as beautifully on the iPhone as they are in Firefox and Safari on Macs and PCs.
Having websites display correctly on mobile devices was the biggest hurdle facing the mobile web until now. WAP tried to provide low bandwidth mobile-friendly versions of webpages but never really took off because it required developing completely separate mobile versions of websites in a different language and couldn't give users all the nice shiny interfaces that we were used to on the computer. Now that our cell phones are more powerful than the computers we first jumped on to the web with and there's mobile broadband covering most of the country we don't have to put up with "the baby web" anymore. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't reason to develop mobile specific websites anymore. It's true that your site may be perfectly accessible to advanced mobile devices as is, but we as web designers can still make it much easier to use by providing an alternative customised user interface to mobile browsers. Often this is put on the site as a subdomain "m" like so - http://m.yourdomain.co.nz. See the examples below:
• m.trademe.co.nz
• m.wellingtonnz.com
• m.wikipedia.org
This mobile-friendly version of your website will be designed to fit better on smaller displays with a single column of content and relatively larger text with easier buttons and links to click on. Sometimes this can be achieved by a simple alternative stylesheet that is served up automatically to users when your website detects they are using a mobile browser. Other times an alternative mini-site with mobile-specific content may be the ideal solution.
There are a few important things to take into account when designing for the mobile web:
• Flash - forget about putting flash on the mobile web at this point, most devices won't be able to display it and those that can shouldn't bother. If you want nice animated graphics opt for clean javascript widgets that don't rely on Flash, like we have on our homepage.
• Small screen size - This is pretty obvious, web user interfaces need to be tweaked for small screens and large fingers.
• Pop-up windows - should be outlawed. Popup windows are even more annoying on the mobile web as they are on your regular PC. To see how popups should be implemented click on the "Clients & Staff Login Here" link in the footer of this page.
• Navigation Menus - Should be kept simple. Definitely avoid those multi-tiered dropdown menus that are equally annoying in your desktop browser.
• Best practices and web standards - For the mobile web having a web developer that understands web standards is even more important than for the regular web. A nice clean, standards-based site will ensure your pages load quickly on the slower cellular connections and render correctly across all the different platforms that are emerging.
• Size - make sure your graphics and pages are heavily optimised because mobile web surfers are still paying an arm and a leg for every kilobyte of mobile data they download.
If you're interested in jumping on the mobile web, or simply would like more info, get in touch with us. There are some serious advantages to be had by expanding your site into the mobile web especially if you're in the retail, hospitality or tourism sector. And to prove we like to eat our own dog food we will have the mobile version of our own website ready to launch in the not too distant future.
PS. Aptly this blog post was typed up on an iPhone while riding home on the bus, in the bath and during coffee breaks in the Octagon.
Kiwis clean up
Fireweb joined a team of volunteers at the most recent eDay in Dunedin last weekend.
With numerous collection points throughout New Zealand, Kiwis banded together to recycle and dispose of their old computers and mobile phones in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Fireweb were proud to lend a hand and contribute to the 966 Tons (Approx. 60 double-decker buses) of eWaste collected nationwide.
Congratulations to all those tidy kiwis who supported the cause and the volunteers who had to lift hundreds of old monitors.
See you all next year.
