Mobile Web for a Mobile Generation

Building Web Sites for a Mobile World
Stand on any elevator, eat at any restaurant, go to any shopping mall, and you’ll see people talking on their phones…or more specifically their smart phone, pocket PCs, PDAs, or BlackBerries. What do all of these things have in common? They are all web enabled devices that can access the same web as traditional computers. There exists, however, some limitations to the use of the web on such devices. Often, you will hear the term “mobile web” which refers to the shortcomings of the web on mobile devices.

Device Dependent vs. Device Independence
Because so many people are accessing the web through mobile devices, it is important that your website is device-independent, simply meaning that is can be used on any device-- traditional computer, BlackBerry, or game console. Instead of making one, device-independent website, there are some companies that are creating a separate website intended specifically for mobile devices. This works, but you can expect to pay more money for it. Creating one website that is compatible with any device, will keep overhead costs low and as an added bonus, you can benefit from the value of the existing site.

Building for Device Independence
To build a mobile device/ traditional device- friendly website, you can develop your site using XHTML. XHTML has rigid accessibility standards and provides the best opportunity for your site to render correctly. It is crucial to remember that with mobile devices, there is limited bandwidth and slow download speed, so it is important that your site is easy to navigate. Therefore, have a site map and make sure that all pages are no more than three clicks away from the homepage.

Keep in mind also that people who are visiting your site from a mobile device are not likely surfing the web. The have purposefully come to your site, so make it usable by being as intuitive as possible in the design/development. It’s not a bad idea to promote your mobile-friendly site through ads and press releases. One easy way to do so would be to add a tagline to the end of your ads that says something like, “Visit us on the web at http://www.yourbusinesswebsite.com/ from your computer or mobile device.”

We are a mobile society, and we want to be able to access the web any where we go. Help your company benefit by ensuring that your website is device-independent.

Information in this post found in the August 2007 edition of WebsiteMagazine.com, from the article, “Site Mobility: The Mobile Web and Beyond,” by Cindy Krum.

If you would like help with your website so that it too is device- independent, please to hesitate to contact us. We are happy to help!