Your Online Business Blog

Does the mobile web alter your web strategy?

We’ve been using desktop computers to use the web for years now and so we sort of expect people to be well placed to view our sites in a reasonably standard size and shape.  For a clumsy one or two years in the mid 2000s we were told that we should optimise for laptops and their ever bizaire screen resolutions but we were able to sidestep that issue by ignoring it.  Fortunately the PCs got better and the screens got larger and nowadays we are able to get a screen on our laps that is nearly as large as the ones we had on our desks.

A quick look at Google Analytics tells me that one of our preferred sites is accessed by people with resolutions of no less than 1024×900 which is sort of a change from a few years back, but a welcome one.

This all seems excellent news for the web developer but there is a new choice and that’s the mobile web.  Again, most of the people evaded making separate web pages for those using small screen cell-phones ( and again, we just ignored them ) but smart phones are now the standard and they have different demands.  Yes, they can view full screen but have you tried it?  The resolution could be good but they are exceedingly difficult to read without zooming in or squinting.

So for those wanting to write for the mobile web properly they must design with this in mind and it does not end a smartphones.  Web design has suddenly altered.

Read the rest of this entry »