Mobile Web

This article is written for those of us who struggle to use their mobile phone to view websites. It also might be of interest to anyone who is trying to target people on the move, or the younger generation who use their smart phones for an increasing number of tasks.

Ever wondered what your website is like to use on a mobile device or smart phone? No? Well you should. Its all too apparent these days that an enormous percentage of Internet users are demanding access wherever they go, indeed - I'm writing this news article on a smart phone on the train home.

Writing a good "normal" website can be fraught with problems, if you then add the complications of mobile devices, you can really start to struggle. Some of you might be asking why - surely the phone takes the website and then displays it, only smaller? The answer is yes and no...

There are lots of implications to this, but two major ones stand out for me. First one is about navigation - lots of websites are designed to fill a large proportion or maybe even the full width of your computer screen. Most computer monitors are in a landscape format meaning they are wider than they are tall which is the opposite of mobile devices, at best this can make it difficult to follow the flow of the website and find what your looking for. And that's not even taking into account the vast majority of people who consider themselves a bit fat fingered when it comes to smart phones....

Secondly, a lot of websites are designed heavily around graphics, graphical effects and colour. Usually the fancier your website, the more data it requires to load each page, now this is ok when your at on your home computer with broadband, but if your on a mobile device - particularly in a poor signal area - the last thing you want is a website where each page takes a couple of minutes to load.

Now the good news is that websites can be made to automatically detect when your using a mobile device and forward you onto a specially crafted mobile website. These special types of website are designed to deal with smaller screens, their connectivity problems and their unique use of your thumbs. As with all things to do with the Internet, prices can vary significantly depending on the exact requirements, but for the basic end of the scale - its effectively a second website so could cost as little as your main one does! As always, if you have any questions about this article, or perhaps your in need of a mobile website - give E-rizon a call!