If your website offers content, you should be thinking about bringing that content to the user, not the other way around
Usability doesn’t end at Internet Explorer or Firefox. With the advent of iPhones and other SmartPhones, there is a sudden influx of people accessing information on-demand with their cell phones. Even Google needed to re-check their logs when they found out a couple weeks ago that the iPhone accounted for fifty times the amount of traffic of any other SmartPhone. That’s pretty good for a phone that only accounts for 2% of the SmartPhones in operation worldwide.
So what does that tell us? That tells us that the easier it is to access the Web from a cell phone, the more likely a user is going to use it. Let’s face it, we didn’t have a lot to worry about when users were struggling and frustrated with working their tiny browser on a 2”x2” screen. We should be much more worried in 2008 with the iPhone in high demand and users accessing the web from their mobile handsets more than ever before.
[text_ad]
WordPress blogs have the lucky advantage of a plug-in available called WordPress PDA that automatically optimizes your wordpress site for mobile viewing. According to the developers, “the iPhone / iPod Touch browser was the first target, but most other mobile browsers are supported at a basic level, and plug-ins can be used to customize for specific browsers where desired.” Otherwise, sites like WinkSite offer tools that make it easier for online publishers to optimize their websites for mobile which include AdSense and other monetization methods.
One complaint that users seem to have, is that they dislike sites that force their mobile version on you. You might think that you are doing your users a favor, and maybe you are, but perhaps it’s polite to ask. For example, a user is looking for reviews on a product they are shopping for in a store. They fire up the iPhone, browse to Amazon, and look for reviews. Well, the mobile version of Amazon does not offer user reviews, so when Amazon detects the phone and sends the user to the mobile Amazon site, it defeats the purpose. The better option might be for Amazon to include user reviews in its mobile website.
The first step in designing for mobile should be to think about why your users browse your website on a mobile device in the first place.
On Wednesday we’ll talk about who the front-runners are in mobile optimization including Facebook and Google as well as how those sites have increased user loyalty by bringing content to the user instead of the other way around.
