Everything you always wanted to know about the mobile web… but were afraid to ask
Posted by Brett Tackaberry on March 11th, 2007
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Mobile Web…but Were Afraid to Ask
Speaker: Brian Fling, The presentation
- author of dotMobi Developers guide
Why the mobile web? Mobile subscribers in the world: 1/3 of the worlds population has access to mobile device. By 2010, 1/2 the planet will have access to a mobile device. So, how many people actually use the mobile web? 60% of users of mobile will access the mobile web once a month - which is less that global internet users.
Location based services (LBS) will cause a big shift in use of mobile web. LBS contextualizes the web.
Mobile strategy. There is a critical need to balance technical, business and user goals. In the mobile industry there are many important factors to consider.
The 3Cs of the mobile web: cost, content and context. Lose anything that doesn’t support those goals.
Mobile Information Architecture. Keep categories short and simple and give a taste of the content to reassure the user is on the right path.
Clickstream / Clickpath. Diagram content layout and paths to content. Any pointers in developing IA?
3 types of phones: feature, smart phone and pda. The feature phone has largest market share. We must design for feature phone and design vertically.
The mobile web standard. The predominant web standard is XHTML-MP. The transition is easy to do. The CSS spec is different and not all attributes are supported. Recommend to use document styles rather than rely fully on external style sheets. Make sure to link document type, use well-formed code, avoid tables, place navigation in the content body, use access keys in the primary navigation (use ordered lists in conjunction), and link phone numbers: (<a xhref=”tel:+16132317166″ mce_href=”tel:+16132317166″>+1 (613) 231-7166</a>). It is feasible to programmatically adjust the markup for mobile - but Fling recommends using handheld css and mobile specific site.
W3C initiatives: mobile web best practices, mobileOK, device description.
“One web”: principle of making the same information and services to users regardless of the device used. Fling says the mobile web should be more contextually relevant.
There are over 50 mobile browsers. Focus on five: a Nokia, Motorola, Samsung or LG, Treo, Blackberry.
Publishing methods: domain: 76design.com/mobile or mobile.76design.com; server side checking and redirect; different top level domain such as 76design.mobi.
The device detection dilemma and there are 2 solutions. There is a simple device detection route: it includes a couple tricks to using user-agent information and sends one website. An advanced device detection may include different website for each device. Mobile stylesheets sometimes detect device.
Testing. Testing on desktop is a great start. Opera and Firefox have tools specific to mobile testing including user-agent switching in browser. Emulators are also helpful. Device testing: test as much as you can. Testanywhere emulates many different scenarios. Usability testing and field testing is also helpful.
