In a recent article on the NY Times, they say that mobile is so close yet so far . I beg to differ. I think that mobile web really is here but should really be broken into two different categories.’, ‘The first is mobile web applications. I do think that this type of mobile web is far off. Mainly because we are seeing the same battle that was waged on pc vs mac vs linux etc. Except now all the mobile providers and manufactuers wants to push their own platform and proporietary software. So that definitely is hurting mobile web.
The second approach is using a standards based mobile development. Using the same techniques used to develop css based layouts mobile web can be accomplished. However I feel this is a much more minimalistic approach to mobile web. One thing that was in the NY Times article that struck me was this:
“While many phones have some form of Web access, most are hard to use just finding a place to type in a Web address can be a challenge. And once you find it, most Web content doesn’t look very good on cellphone screens.”
I think they are missing the fundamental point of mobile web, people don”t want to look at your regular website on their tiny screen. So to approach mobile web I say;Of your content what would a user use while on the go? How do you display content in a clear and concise way on such a small screen? How will the interaction fair well for your organization? Mobile web isn”t for every organization. Your content may not be useful to someone on that go. Keep in mind that they are most likely browsing your mobile content with one hand, with the other hand doing something like drinking a cup of coffee or holding a shopping bag. With that being said, I approach all mobile development with context and content in mind. To give the Times credit they do go on to say:
“People talk about the mobile Web, and it’s just assumed that it’ll be a replica of the desktop experience? Mr. Eagle said. But they’re fundamentally different devices.”
This is exactly the right mindset. While reading Cameron Moll’s book, Mobile Web Design he brings up some great points. The first being that in Japan people use their phones to access the internet more than they do their computers. Sure their phones can handle more data than ours but they are still figuring out what content people are viewing on a mobile and delivering as such. So I say that when you are considering mobile publishing you should think about the context that the content will be viewed. This will be the first of many posts on the topic of mobile. I plan on going deeper into it’’s uses and exploring ways to push this fascinating medium.
