GO MOBILEBy: Cindy Collins

Some websites have what I call single serving content: you’ll go there once, and not return until you need it again. It could be a long time until you go back, so the user wouldn’t install a mobile application.

Responsive Design: Designed for multiple devices, adjusting the design based on the device. Equal, but different.

Adaptive Design: Designed specifically for a mobile or tablet experience. Not equal and separate.

Native Application: A program designed specifically for iOS, Android or Windows. Different and separate.

No mobile design: Designed for desktop and tablet only.

Bars, Tabs, and Hypertext: “We see much less hypertext on mobile pages. Links instead appear in the form of bars, tabs, and buttons.”  Bigger objects such as bars, tabs, or buttons allow users to tap with more precision. It is essential to make the actionable objects on mobile sites big and easily noticeable.

Integration with Phone Functions: While mobile platforms place many limitations on design and content, they also open up new opportunities that traditional Web sites cannot provide. For example, there is better integration with phone functions such as direct calling and text messaging, which lets mobile sites facilitate ordering products by phone.

Statistics proves mobile is the way to go.

We reported comScore data in May 2012 that showed that on smartphones 82% of mobile media time is via apps. This is a key insight as companies decide whether to develop mobile apps or create mobile device specific apps. In April 2013 mobile analytics vendor Flurry released a useful summary of category of app usage across smartphones and tablets and similarly to the previous report it shows that app usage dominates browser usage as they put it:

It’s an App World. The Web Just Lives in It. You do have to be careful about interpreting this though, since Facebook, games and utility apps will naturally have the greatest time spent and browser use is still significant by volume if not proportion.

I recommend building a html 5 based site.

good example of a website that work well on mobile/tablet devices

Image References

mashable.com

bgr.com

melleemedia.com

www.shutterstock.com

lurnq.com

online.wsj.com

w3webtutorial.blogspot.com

www.business2community.com

www.facebook.com

typicalblogger69.wordpress.com

REFERENCES

http://www.usabilitycounts.com/2014/01/08/mobile-design-strategy-responsive-adaptive-native/

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2208496/72-of-Consumers-Want-Mobile-Friendly-Sites-Google-Research

http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2011/03/10-ways-mobile-sites-are-different-from-desktop-web-sites.php

http://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/