Mobile users doubled from 2009 until 2013 alone. Growth in mobile usage has only continued to climb since 2009.
Mobile and tablet usage will continue to grow in
the future.
• Technological advancements will continue to be made in mobile devices.
• Technological advancements in networking and mobile web programming will continue to be made.
Carrie Bland
As technological advancements are made in both devices and networking, mobile usage will only continue to grow. The more advancements that are made will make mobile that much more convenient, thus bringing in even more mobile users.
The rise of mobile has had a definite impact on web
design.
• Web designers take the smaller screens of mobile devices into account.
• Mobile versions of websites are thought of while planning the desktop site.
Carrie Bland
As mobile web browsing becomes more and more popular, web designers are having to keep mobile accessibility in mind when creating their websites. They have to take the smaller screen resolutions into account. They also have to take into account trying to make the mobile site look consistent with the desktop site.
Websites need to be friendly for all mobile
devices.• Mobify can help you redirect your site to a mobile friendly site.• Avoiding using Flash heavy programing can also help in
making sites more mobile friendly.• Using CSS3 can help make site more mobile friendly as well.
While programming a website it’s important to try to ensure that the mobile version of the site will be compatible as possible with all mobile devices. Mobify is an option that help redirect users to the mobile version of the site. Another helpful way to make a website more mobile friendly is to avoid using Flash, since many mobile devices don’t support it. Using coding such as CSS3 is another way to help make your mobile site compatible with as many devices as possible.
Examples of Bad Mobile Sites
Carrie Bland
This site is no different than the desktop version. There is a lot of information on one page, and a user looking at it with a less powerful mobile device might not even be able to properly navigate it at all.
Carrie Bland
This mobile site it not only hard to read, but makes the assumption that you know what zip code you’re in. If the user is out of town they may not know the zip code and could benefit from other methods of searching. Photo credit: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/31234.asp#multiview
Examples of Good Mobile Sites
Carrie Bland
YouTube’s mobile site has an easy to see search bar, and only has the first four featured videos on the home page to keep the site looking clean and pleasing. Photo credit: http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2011/01/designing-for-the-mobile-web-special-considerations.php
Carrie Bland
Southwest’s mobile site is extremely easy to navigate. In some ways it is even easier to navigate than it’s desktop site. Photo credit: http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2011/01/designing-for-the-mobile-web-special-considerations.php
How can we make mobile web work for us?
Mobile Friendly Options
• Don’t use too much Flash on the homepage, so that people who want to go to the Desktop site from their mobile device can without too much trouble.
• Streamline content needed to be on the mobile site.
• Code the mobile site in such a way that will be accessible to as many mobile devices as possible.
