“Mobile Web” is generating an inordinate amount of buzz in the streets these days. The cause: smartphones. Such phones as the iPhone, HTC EVO, Blackberry, and Nexus One are changing how people view and access the web. The increasing amounts of users are causing websites to cater to these mobile devices due to smaller screen resolution and browser limitations. With these smartphones getting more and more popular, websites must look to new development and designs to create more compatible ways for user interactions while staying within the confines of their domain.
Development for mobile devices is about speed and compatibility. This is getting easier with new mobile browsers supporting HTML5 and CSS3 standards. HTML5 gives developers the ability to write less code and support web videos without the need of Flash; which some phones, such as the iPhone, are not supporting. CSS3 allows developers to use codes to create website elements rather than rely on excessive images which take more time to download. With these two new technologies, developers are able to create richer mobile websites and applications that accommodate users without being limited by the smartphone that a user may have.
When it comes to designing for mobile devices, it is about user interaction and understanding the fundamentals of mobile web design. Remember that even though mobile devices are getting larger screens with better resolution and have the ability to switch to horizontal viewing mode, not all sites are designed FOR mobile. Making a website “mobile friendly” is not the same as designing a mobile website!
Here are a few things that you should keep in mind while designing for mobile web:
Understand the differences in navigating in mobile web vs. web
Remember that with touch screens a user’s finger is doing the navigation, so make your buttons easily clickable for them
Know your design space and phones
Simplify your content
There are no hover states, as of now
Understand that your users are on a phone and on the go, so they have more immediate needs; they would be using your main site on their computer at home, otherwise.
So what is in store for the future of mobile devices and mobile web? Obviously one can only hypothesize and dream, but with advancements in nanotechnology (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpJQNMBNtOo), Haptic surfaces and 3D technology the line between reality and science fiction is getting more and more blurred.
I’ve been using Google Wave for a few weeks now. In case you somehow haven’t heard of Google Wave before, here is a description from the website:
Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.
In simple terms, I see it as a dynamic message board. It’s an interesting idea, but I haven’t been hooked on it yet. It doesn’t feel conducive for everyday use. I definitely do not see it replacing email or IMing anytime soon, like some suggest will happen. Seems more for specific group projects or interest groups.
Even then, you have to be able to wrap your head around the concept and features in order to be able to use it and I think the general public might be turned off to it before they get past the learning curve.
One of the hardest things at first is that you don’t have any friends when you first join. Two things to help:
1) When you join Google Wave, you should get a wave in your inbox from Google that allows you to invite some friends.
2) In the search box, type “with: public” without quotes so you can browse and join public waves. (see below)
I just got a bunch of invites and sent it out to a few people here at EMG. Maybe I’ll have a change of heart once I start using it in a business setting.
I recently received an ‘IT Insights’ mailer from a placement company I once worked for. Included in that letter was a section on Developer Skills and what to focus on over the next 5 years. I thought I’d take this opportunity to point out, comment on, and add my own two cents to the topics in this article.
The main topics of this article were:
The big three languages
People/soft skills
Web development and services
RIA (Rich Internet Applications)
Mobile
Let me review these topics, but in a slightly different order…
Here at EMG, most employees are running dual monitors. This helps to improve efficiencies by giving them more screen space to layout multiple windows and programs. I highly recommend the investment for anyone who multi-tasks with many programs. I find it so useful I’m considering a third monitor, but that is a conversation for later.
One problem I’ve always found was working with Microsoft Office Excel 2007. For some reason, when you open multiple excel spreadsheets (.xls or .xlsx) it opens one containing window for all of them. It does not create separate windows for each spreadsheet like Word 2007 does for documents. This is especially bothersome when running dual monitors because it is really hard to organize windows and properly use the space you are given.
If you find yourself with this same problem, you are in luck. I’ve found a simple way to open multiple excel documents, each contained in their own window.
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