Is your website ready for a handheld world?
Handheld devices are more capable than ever, but their capabilities remain extremely limited in comparison to the kind of desktops and laptops most commonly used to browse the web. With their relatively tiny screens and slow connections, sending a handheld device the code for your normal website is likely to produce confusion and frustration in those you're trying to serve, leading to severely curtailed responses.
In theory, of course, any website can be accessed by any mobile device. But in reality, many websites are coded with much more robust devices like desktops and laptops in mind. The trends to rely on network- and CPU-intensive technologies -- and to have the web browser in continuous communication with the web server (a la Ajax) -- further limit the compatibility of many standard websites with mobile devices.
Important differences
The three main differences between handhelds and larger computers are the:
1. Much smaller screen size
2. Relative scarcity on handhelds of support for advanced browser-related technologies like cookies, Java and Flash -- without which many standard websites just don't perform well or look good
3. Intrinsically slower and sometimes spotty nature of the networks serving handhelds
All this is why the most successful websites aimed at mobile browsers are now being optimized for this class of equipment.
Why is this important? One reason is the sheer size of the opportunity. For example, more people have internet access through cellphones than through computers. In addition, Nielson Mobile reportedly tabulated some 9 million purchases from cellphones during the month of April. That's up more than 70 percent, year over year.
Not everyone agrees on the best designs and technological underpinnings for successful websites targeted at mobile users. But there are broad swaths of concurrence on what's best and what's not.
Focus on minimizing website size
Because of the slower speeds and smaller screens associated with mobile devices, every bit of data you attempt to serve deserves consideration. That's why it's vitally important that you reduce the amount of content on your mobile-optimized site, removing extraneous information, animation and all other eye candy. Tables, so handy for coding standard websites, require too many bits to be beneficial for mobile websites.
With bit rates for 3G handhelds hovering under 15 Mbit/sec, there's a strictly limited amount of data that can be transmitted if your website is to load in 10 seconds or less. Think "dial-up" rather than broadband.
Fortunately, most handheld browsers show the incoming material bit by bit as it arrives, and mobile browsers that use proxy servers tend to load whatever data the screen is trying to display at the moment. Still, users won't sit still for long delays at home, and they feel even less inclined to do so when they're on the go. So cutting website sizes to the bone is central to optimizing for handhelds.
Serve only the most important content
On mobile-oriented websites, it's critical to keep content concise so the need for users to scroll is minimized. Content developers and marketers often have a desire to overkill -- they want to make literally everything available. But for mobile websites, right now that's just not practical.
The quantity of content you should offer on your mobile website(s) obviously depends on your reader base. For example, experience shows that "pop culture" content doesn't captivate users enough to keep them scrolling through long articles on their cellphones. Articles that are 200 words or fewer are the most likely to be completed. On the other hand, travelers seeking specific details about a locale have shown themselves willing to scroll the small screen as many as 20 times or so. On many mobile websites, checklists with only half-a-dozen items have proven to be particularly well received.
It's also important to understand the kind of information your mobile customer wants. Why are they accessing your site from their mobile, rather than their laptop or desktop? Usually, it's because they're not browsing for deep learning, but looking for a quick hit of specific information. Many mobile users simply want a phone number or address, directions, a schedule of events, perhaps a restaurant menu.
Understand why users come to your mobile website rather than your standard website, and put the information they are most likely to want up front.
Layout and graphics
Go for practical layout. Design is critical because mobile devices vary so greatly. The iPhone and 3G devices are much faster than older technologies, of course, but when you're optimizing for mobile, you must consider and cater to the lowest common denominator. For example, with less real estate available on a mobile screen, websites optimized for mobile should generally look very different from their desktop cousins. Ideally, you want your mobile content in a more vertical format, minimizing overlooked information as well as the need for horizontal scrolling -- frustrations that tend to drive people off your site. Putting everything in more of a columnar format leaves users with the more natural task of scrolling down, rather than across.
Pare graphics
Specific capabilities for viewing graphics vary greatly from one handheld to another, with the iPhone leading the charge toward a whole new generation of graphics-friendly mobile devices. But even there, the largest screen size is just a few inches. Next generation devices may have 5-inch screens, but that's still pretty small. While there is no hard and fast limit on the graphics you can attempt to deliver, these days most optimization experts suggest you limit all images to no more than about 120x120 pixels.
RSS and .mobi
Enable RSS Feeds. RSS is designed to deliver the newest content on a site, stripped of graphical elements and other impediments to transmission. It's often the easiest and fastest way to send your content to handhelds. For some websites, enabling RSS may be all you need to do to convert your website for mobile users.
Consider whether or not to go ".mobi"
Companies looking to serve the mobile market should design a version of their sites for these devices, and many argue that implies switching to a ".mobi" domain name. The top-level domain ".mobi" was conceived and launched at a time when many felt the need to separate websites for mobile from standard websites. As a result, a lot of big name advertisers now support sites on the ".mobi" domain.
But with growing technological sophistication, others now argue that ".com" can serve just as well. For example, today it's possible for a server to do a browser detection every time a user hits it and then deliver an appropriate website for each class of device. For what it's worth, however, the W3C says that staying with ".com" for mobile sites breaks the web's convention because not all ".com" sites are suitable for handhelds.
As handhelds evolve from today's 2.5G and 3G into tomorrow's 4G technology, the gap between handheld and desktop user experiences will certainly narrow.
Navigation
Standard websites have evolved toward placing navigation along the top and sides. For mobile optimized websites, this just doesn't work. Mobile screens are so small that top navigation could easily cover much of the screen and force users to scroll before seeing the first elements of your site's content. It's counterintuitive, but in most situations mobile websites play better with navigation at the bottom of the page. This way, users see the vital content they want with the very first screen full of information. And because they are used to the idea of scrolling down to see more, scrolling to find the mobile site's navigation makes more sense than it does on a standard website. In many cases, that first screen can display a content menu with links to half-a-dozen sub-topics or categories of content that mobile users are likely to want.
Incidentally, users of the standard web are far more forgiving of "under construction" or "coming soon" signs than mobile users, who absolutely hate broken links. Even if you have plans to expand or modify your mobile website very soon, make sure everything you put up for mobile users actually works. Add any new or changed links into the site's navigation only after you flesh out their content.
It's also useful to include a "mobile site map" somewhere on your site. Having one from Google helps your ranking in Google's mobile directory, and it also helps Google keep up to date as you change your website's pages. With the link in place, Google will often register page changes in a couple of days rather than a couple of months. Similarly, Yahoo has a "yahoo mobile submit" page where you can register your site and help them track your mobile pages more closely.
Designers, testing and going local
Work with a mobile site designer. A substantial number of designers believe they can design and develop for any device. You'll hear arguments that it's unnecessary to develop an additional site for handhelds, and that it's better to come up with one site that displays nicely on desktops, laptops and handhelds. Sad to say, designers' beliefs are not always accurate. The limited capabilities of handhelds should not restrict what you do on other platforms. That's why, in many cases, it's more fruitful to have one designer creating your standard websites and another working off that design to optimize different coding for handhelds.
Test extensively before launching
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that testing a site -- any site -- is very important. There are lots of testing services available, as mentioned on the next page. Point some of these tools at your mobile site and you'll quickly discover whether or not it meets all the applicable standards. It's also possible to use handheld emulators to make sure that pages load correctly on each of the devices you expect to be serving.
Plan to exploit localization
One of the most exciting aspects of the mobile web is its capability for localizing each user. Right now, Google Maps can pinpoint a user's location within about 2500 feet (the distance to the nearest cell tower), but GPS-enabled phones are far more accurate. Why not explore the best ways to leverage this technology? From a marketing perspective, localizing can be incredibly powerful because it allows you to compete for a person's business as they walk or drive down the street. The trick, of course, is to get people to opt in, so you have their permission to deliver localized offers to their phones.
Conclusions
As smartphones become more advanced, the need to optimize your websites specifically for mobile devices will become less and less critical. In the future, mobile users will be able to see the same websites as any other device. For now, however, failing to optimize for mobile users is a great way to hamstring your company's online efforts.
What's more, because cellphones often work when and where laptops do not (or are not available), the mobile web can provide an opportunity to offer content to customers and prospects when they are not willing or able to visit your standard website.
Fortunately, it's a lot easier to optimize for the mobile web than a lot of people believe it might be.
Years ago, advertisers were wondering if they should have a website. Now, of course, we all recognize that we need one. It's the same with mobile. Whether you build a new site or retrofit an old one to make it compatible, getting involved in the mobile web can benefit every advertiser. While many think the mobile web is a marketing tool for the future, others are discovering that it is here -- and viable -- right now.
Additional info
One simple and useful way to check the readiness of your website for mobile users is to submit it to the Ready.mobi testing tool. Free of charge, the site thoroughly evaluates any submitted site's mobile-readiness, based on industry standards and best practices. A free report on your site includes both a numerical score (from 1 to 5) and more detailed analysis of individual pages to help you gauge how well your site is likely to perform on most mobile devices. Recently, an upgraded version of this mobile website testing tool was launched, adding new mobile phone emulators, more reports with color-coded scores, and analysis of about three dozen website attributes.
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