Mobile website designing process more or less follow a similar path as in the case of website designing but still there are some differences which can be taken not of such as:
• Speed in the mobile devices differ that of the computer devices.
• Visually mobiles have a smaller screen than computer devices.
• Internet in case of mobiles can be accessed through GPRS-Edge whereas in case of computer devices you can access internet through broadband services.
Let’s have a look at different aspects of mobile website design in order to make mobile surfing a smoothening experience for the users:
Design Delivery:
Experience of surfing should be delivered in a manner so as to make the website visually appealing and intuitive. For this, design of layout and elements should be in a proper and systematic way making it simple and user friendly for the users to go about the website. A cross platform design is difficult to make as mobile web in addition to WML language require different operating system compatibility such as iOS, Android, Blackberry, Symbian, etc. whereas in case of desktop based designs only HTML language is required. One option is to simply create or modify your existing code to make design work well on different mobiles or to create different new designs for different devices.
Redirecting Traffic:
Route the traffic to your mobile site from your website so that users will automatically be redirected to let say mobile.websitename.com, by creating an optimized layout on the same. Here it is important to note that users must become aware of the mobile version of your website and also they should be given a choice to choose between a mobile version and the normal version. Need not to forget that users should be given a flexibility to go to normal site design.
Code Structure:
Only mobile friendly languages like WML or XHTML should be used; build websites for all kinds of operating systems; it should be such so as to incur less cost and provide more speed and modern standards like HTML5 and CSS3 should be incorporated.
Cost:
Most mobile internet providers cap connections resulting in an expensive and limited bandwidth. Also roaming charges outside a country can cost a lot. Hence mobile websites should be built in a way so that it is user friendly, simple and standard based.
Layout:
Mobile layout is an important area to be taken care of because:
• Mobiles are of different sizes, small or large
• Mobiles vary a lot in terms of resolution and quality
• Mobiles may or may not support zooming facility, so it shouldn’t be cumbersome to scroll especially in small screen mobile phones
Simplicity:
More information filled in a website will lead to more scrolling and harder to grasp altogether. Users must be given least amount of burden to surf websites smoothly and so single columns must be used in designing in order to facilitate small screens as multi-column layouts often break in a limited and congested space.
Accessibility:
Mobile website layout should have large links and clickable objects so that navigation becomes a streamline experience to deal with. Reducing the amount of clicks, and zooms and scrolls will make user mobile website user friendly and as simpler as possible.
Content:
Excess images, text and media can be removed as website with less content is more likely to be read and surfed upon. It will result in minimized scrolling, small website size, quick readability and will occupy less bandwidth. If your design is just a modification of your existing layout then you can hide unnecessary text, images or media.
Images:
Large background or heavy images can create a problem if not taken care of. For larger screens this might not be an issue but handsets with smaller screens may find it pretty difficult to deal with large images in terms of resolution and memory as they consume a high amount of bandwidth making it cumbersome for such handsets.
Media:
Audio/Video can be a source of rich content to be displayed on your website making it more effective and attractive to surf. So few things should be taken into consideration while utilizing video and audio:
• Beware of flash and similar other formats not supported by many devices
• Optimize the file size of audio/video to the maximum possible extent
• To save bandwidth, don’t make the website automatically download audio/video until requested by users
• Don’t make your audio/video auto play until requested as it will consume a lot of bandwidth
Cross Device Switchover:
It’s pretty much different to surf web over computers and mobiles. Mobiles unlike computers lack mouse and keyboard is multiple times smaller than that of a computer. So features and functions must be so user friendly so as to make it easier for computer users to surf in a similar fashion in case of mobiles as well.
Connectivity:
There are places where mobile networks fail to receive signals. In such cases operating internet becomes difficult or impossible. So it is always convenient to create a website which can work both offline and online.
Testing:
There are a wide range of emulators to test your website on various standardization parameters to be on a competitive edge with the competitors. So it is pretty much important to ensure that a wide audience can access and use the website in a functional and enjoyable way.
Fast, Small and Simple:
There had been speed, bandwidth and connection issues in the past era of internet. Internet connections always dealt with such issues as initially as it was initially connected with phone devices at your home. So it always happened that whenever there in an incoming or outgoing call, the connection got interrupted leading to disconnect. Also initially low bandwidth space was allocated which offered low speed. But today due to development and progress in mobile network infrastructure, connectivity is widely available at a blazing speed with unlimited bandwidth. But a lot of new developments are still awaited in terms of network towers, signals and internet offers. Till that time mobile websites should be fast, small as well as simple.
