From CNN to ESPN, websites have taken on a new shape over the past few years. Mobile websites are becoming the way users connect to their favorite sites and search new information. This is nothing new to people, but it might come as a surprise how pervasive this medium has become. More and more people are accessing the web through their phones as their numbers have more than doubled in the past few years. I'm sure this is the first of many blogs regarding the mobile world and how it will change the face of client interaction and advertising, but I think it might be helpful to start on what to look for in a mobile website.
Typically people use mobile web applications for anything from checking their email to checking the news, mainly on sites they frequent daily. It is becoming less of a luxury and more of a regular part of doing business for those organizations that have high frequency traffic on their full website. SO what does it take for an easy to use mobile website? This list is certainly not 'all inclusive' but when accessing the web via your mobile device, here are some things to look for and expect.
- First, extremely stripped down graphics. These guys aren't going to blow you away with bells and whistles. They want to keep everything with low graphic downloads as well as minimize the clutter overload for the user. Because as you can imagine, this is not only for display quality but also that the user is accessing the internet via 'best case' a 3G network connection. So the smaller the download the better.
- There should also be cut down navigation elements within the site. For instance many people keep the mobile version of their sites to about 5 tabs in order for quick browsing by using a more tabular approach.
- Also, all of the most important information for the user needs to be placed at the top of the page. Because of the small vertical space and difficulty for many mobiles to scroll, you want to make sure your users are seeing the valuable information first.
- Another item to remember, it is difficult to type typically from a mobile device (especially while eating and putting on makeup while driving). Mobile sites should utilize lists to choose from or auto content completion technology for text areas to ease usability.
If you have a site that you visit all the time on your mobile phone that does not have a mobile specific version, there have been new applications that translate the website into a more friendly version for your mobile. Check out http://www.skweezer.com. This will automatically reformat websites to fit in the smaller display of your mobile phone and removes the clutter so you can easily view and browse through the site quickly. Not a 100% answer, but no fear I feel it won't be too long until most high traffic sites will have a mobile ready version for you.