Web Design For Mobile Devices
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What do you need to do, if anything, to design your web site for mobile devices such as cell phones? The answer depends on which generation of mobile devices you want to design for.
Old Generation Mobile Devices
Almost all of the old generation devices have very poor built-in web browsers, and it is difficult to view web pages and get the same user experience as you do on your computer’s web browser. Since the cellular Internet speeds were very slow for the older generation of devices, these browsers basically had to be dummied down so as to display only the text of the web site, with very little graphics. The slow speeds necessitated this since the graphics just took too long to download. What resulted were mobile devices that basically had web browsers that just showed the text of a web site.
So, many companies started building text-only versions of their web sites specifically for these limited mobile devices. The size and layout of the sites was also minimized to match the small screen sizes of mobile devices.
Mobile Devices Now Have High-Speed Internet
Until now, mobile devices really did not have high-speed Internet access. Sure, they had Internet access, but the speed was so slow that the built in browsers could barely display more than just a small amount of text.
But now everything has changed. The major carriers now provide their mobile users with true high-speed Internet access. Whereas before it was painfully slow to view even the most basic web page, now things are fast enough that browsing the web on your mobile phone is actually worth your time. With the release of the new generation mobile devices, mobile Internet usage is now exploding.
Design For New Generation Mobile Devices
With the increase in mobile Internet speeds, the new generation mobile devices now include much better web browsers, which can display web sites more or less in the same way as you see them on your computer. The faster speeds allow these mobile web browsers to display all the graphics on the web page, in addition to the text, so that the web page looks like it does on your computer. The iPhone, for example, has an amazing built-in web browser that displays web sites beautifully on the mobile phone. It includes zoom in and zoom out features, which allow the user to easily view and read any part of the web page.
So, with the new generation of mobile devices, you do not need to change your web site at all, since the devices are smart enough to display your web site just as nicely as on your computer.
A Hybrid Approach
Even with the new generation of mobile devices being able to display web sites in their true form, some companies are still building separate web sites designed specifically for mobile devices. Usually such sites have a minimized layout to fit the small screen of the mobile device. They typically also have less graphical content, and more text based content. The idea is that the smaller layout and less graphical content will be easier to use on a mobile device, due to the small screen size of such devices.
Conclusion
Whether or not to design a separate web site for mobile devices is up to you. For older generation mobile devices, an optimized design that is mostly text is helpful. However, with the new generation devices that are more than capable of showing a web site in its true form, a separate web site is not strictly necessary. But you still may want to build a site with a smaller footprint, optimized for the small screen sizes of mobile devices.
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