Going Mobile
Thus far, we’ve talked about designers vs. developers, the influence of new technologies, and the effects of performance. For the next part in this series, I’ve chosen to look at how what devices we use to access the internet affects usability.
Today, there are more possible ways to consume content from the internet than ever before; chances are that you have easy access to three or more devices that can get online: desktop computers, laptops, netbooks, mobile phones like the Apple iPhone or HTC Hero, tablets – the list goes on. Accessing a web site through these products is easy; actually using the site on anything other than a fully fledged computer can be anything but easy.
Why is that? Part of the problem is the devices themselves: netbooks, tablets and mobile phones simply aren’t as powerful as normal computers, restricting what can be sensibly achieved. In addition, the size of the screen varies dramatically between each device, affecting the amount of content that can be seen at any one time.
However, the overriding problem is that people don’t use every device in the same way. The iPhone is a great example of this – how many people scroll or zoom with their fingers on a desktop PC, or rotate the screen on their laptop to better view a particular site? Since the interaction is different, the way that the web site is used will be different as well.
As a result of this, it is often a good idea to create a separate website for use by access by mobile phones, containing just the critical aspects of your sites content. Since this can be quite a tricky proposition, it is worth considering if your site is one that users will want or need to access using a phone.
At Base Creative, we work hard to ensure that all of the sites we create work in exactly the same way across all traditional computers, including laptops, tablets and netbooks. This means that all of your traditional users will leave your site having achieved their desired goals.