Image by Christian Holmér
With the invention of the iPhone, the world of personal technology shifted forever. Apple was not the first to invent a personal, portable version of internet access, but the iPhone, and its predecessor, the iPod, made the idea of being able to carry the internet around in your pocket accessible to anyone with a cell phone. No longer was mobile technology limited to executives and geeks with their Blackberries. Today, most teenagers have some variation of an iPhone. Mobile technology has arrived, and anyone who’s not keeping up risks being left in a cloud of dust.
Is your site outdated? Image by Psyberartist
What does that mean to you as a developer? Simple: It means that your site needs to be user-friendly, not only for those viewing your pages on their laptop or PC, but for those using the small screen of a phone. It means your fonts need to be large enough to be readable, and your site can’t be overloaded with data-devouring video and fancy graphics. It means your pages need to be clear, well-organized and intuitive. In short, it means your site needs to be mobile-user friendly.
So, how do you make your site user-friendly? First, you examine the main components of your landing pages. Are all the basics users will want to access regularly readily available and clearly visible? Things like logins, notification feeds and shopping carts need to be easy to find. Remember, too, that your mobile users will be doing most of their input with a touch-screen, not a keyboard and mouse.
Image by Viagallery
If your main site is just too cluttered or too large to scale down to a reliable mobile-app, consider using a mobile-app pattern to optimize your site for mobile users, and creating a “mobile version” of your site for those using the smaller screen. In today’s mobile world, making your site user-friendly to mobile platforms just makes good sense.
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Tom Chu works for PsPrint and PsPrint Blog. When he’s not sitting behind a computer, Tom likes watching sci-fi movies and Japanese cartoons, hitting the golf course and playing with his four dogs. You can connect with Tom via Google+ or Twitter. |
