Usable Mobile Web Design- Getting It Right

As the Internet ages, both the frequency and types of interaction we have with it continue to grow and develop.

One area in which the Internet is currently growing rapidly is mobile computing. This is being fuelled by a raft of low cost and high powered mobile technologies. Laptops, iPhones and other smartphones are allowing us to stay connected whenever and wherever. But coming up with a winning formula for mobile web sites requires a new approach. So how can businesses design usable and accessible mobile web sites?

The Environment

Consider the environment of a mobile web user. When people use the Internet on a computer or laptop, they are likely to be using a large screen, and generally experience few interruptions. It fills their world, they get sucked in. But mobile web is a different story. People use their mobile phones in environments that are filled with distractions: walking down the street, or waiting for a bus, for example. In these environments, services that require complex interactions fail. They need to finish using the site before they walk into the next lamp post. One user I spoke to summed it up perfectly: 'it has to fit in the cracks in my life'.

Do less, get more

Mobile web gives the promise of immediate access to information and entertainment, so users will be looking to accomplish specific, time sensitive goals. So, when creating a site for mobile, focus only on offering the features that will enable users to accomplish these goals; they don't want to be bothered with lots of insignificant or irrelevant information, questions or images. Design bite-sized, focused experiences; take a risk and focus only on the most important elements of the site.

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The Mobile Web Industry Takes Center Stage

It's still early in the development of the mobile Web. The majority of the iPhone Web apps currently available are cool little tools created by a developer for kicks or because they want a better way to access a Web site. While many people get that the mobile Web has potential, most companies still need to figure out how to profit from it.

Wait. Scroll. Scroll. Tap-tap. Wait. Wait. For many years, that was the typical experience of someone surfing the Web using a mobile phone or PDA, at least in the U.S. Although some content Relevant Products/Services providers offered stripped-down versions of their sites specially designed for mobile users, most did not, and reading a page designed to be viewed on a PC on the small screen was about as much fun as sitting in a dark room reading a newspaper by flashlight.

Today, the mobile Web environment is in a period of rapid change, thanks in no small part to Apple's iPhone. From the phone's introduction in June, 2007, through March, 2008, 5.4 million iPhones have sold, and to date developers have created more than 17,000 sites or "Web applications" optimized for the device.

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