Why One Web Is Troublesome to Me

I am a Google addict of sorts. I'd be fine with any other sufficiently good search engine, but these days Google seems to have won. For example, the default search on the Opera Mini home deck is Yahoo! Its demonstrably terrible. I used it for a while without success before switching over.

So, I spend a lot of my mobile browsing clicks on Google. I hit the link (or accesskey) from the Opera Mini home deck and get:

Yes, the Opera-squishes-everything-to-fit view. Zoomed out, and unusable (you cannot click fields or links without zooming). So I click into it, and focus on the field.

Then I have to scroll over to the search button and hit that.

Clearly, I'd rather have a mobile version of this, at least. Not much going on at the Google page, so why can't I just view and use it directly? I try the mobile specific URL, m.google.com

Yup, same thing. I guess some bit of the user agent string is tricking google into sending over the desktop version. Maybe their other mobile URL works google.com/mobile/

Naturally, it doesn't. Same as the desktop, it even tells me to just go to where I am from my mobile device.

Though there is a link if I am on a mobile, its inexplicably on the right side, to make sure I cannot see it on one of these browsers. At least its not also at the bottom of the page.

So, I click that. And it gives me a relatively mobilized listing of all their services, even downloads like the Gmail reader.

Click into the Search item reveals -- finally -- the correct, mobile-centric search page. I bookmark it, so I can use it later.

So, here I am the next day, trying to search for something. I hit my "Google mobile" bookmark and get...

...the desktop view, again!

Lest you think Google simply doesn't work on mobiles, we can switch Opera over to a mobile view (not even a need to switch browsers).

And sure, it works after a fashion. Its /still/ not the mobile version, just a compressed, style-less desktop view, but it works.

Not to mention, that setting is not per page, or domain, but global. Now Opera Mini is just a glorified WAP browser. So I switch it back, and muddle on.

I want to be clear that I am not picking on Opera alone. The same thing happens on some other browsers, to some degree or another. Similarly with Google; why be so smart about detection that when I enter a mobile URI the desktop version is displayed instead?

If you are a content provider, try to divine the user's intent. Did the I type .mobi in the URL? Or m.yourdomain.com? or yourdomain.com/mobile? I probably didn't type that by accident, and should therefore be shown the mobile version. Next, try to figure out if the user is on a mobile device. Opera Mini will always be on a mobile device; it doesn't matter as much which device as long as you know its not a desktop computer.

If the user typed a generic URL in a fully capable mobile browser, then it might become hard to tell which one to display. I personally think that if you have a mobile version of your site, this seems like a good time to serve it up. If you think some people will want the desktop version, just offer a link at the top of the screen to switch over. This extra click doesn't add much to the full-screen browsers that already require clicks just to get to the zoomed-in-enough-to-read view.

For the transcoders (e.g., Opera, Novarra, Openwave), you also need to try to figure out when the user means "mobile." I've been told by some very nice W3C folks that there is a list of methods to accomplish this (typing .mobi is one of them) but we've still somehow got Opera deciding that a web page needs to be transcoded even when it was typed as .mobi). I find it hard to see how this can do anything but fail to meet user expectations, and continue to emphasize how the mobile web is just a pale shadow of the desktop version.

I use google as well instead of yahoo. But I like the full web approach and use opera mini for that reason, instead of the built in opera browser. Once you have been to a site before you begin to realise which bit you need to zoom into. You canlt expect every site to have a mobile version when ther is no need. I hate to say but I reckon apple have it right and have set the standard for the future.

Except Google does have a mobile version. To make sure that point is clear: sure, if you have no resources for developing multiple versions, the one-web movement is going to work well for your website.

And personally, I didn’t much like using the iPhone in full-screen mode either. I can’t read most things still, so end up zooming anyway. The N800 is a tidge better for some reason, but I think slightly larger screens are needed for zoomless, desktop-render, full-web browsing.

Hey Steven, great post. I’ve been working on a content adaption service for publishers that lets them pass the m.domain.com or domain.mobi version of the site through to us to be adapted for mobile:

http://pub.mowser.com/wiki/Main/DomainRedirect

It’s a decent way to offer a mobile version to users, but we’re really trying to get device detection going in more instances. Some users will type an alternate URL to get to your site, but most are still unaware of the difference and probably will be. Plus, there are the issues like getting search engines to be aware of your mobile version of your site. Fortunately Google has provided a way to make them aware of your mobile version:

http://pub.mowser.com/wiki/Main/HeadersOverview

But it’s far from universally respected. Lots of sites get a majority of their traffic from search, and the mobile web needs to allow for that with the same fluidity as the wired web does. In that sense, catering to end users only really addresses only a part of the issue.

- Mike

Oh, most certainly I agree that this is just one part of the puzzle. But hopefully something that can be done by individual content providers, to make the mobile web a little better every day.

There are dozens of other things that need to be done to really make this all work. Using a content adapter (like yours) is one solution that seems viable, as long as providers adopt it (or a carrier or browser makes it a setup option for all pages). I think it renders pretty well http://mowser.com/web/littlespringsdesign.com though I’d put the switch (back to original view) at the top.

Add to this the usual culprits of consistent browser behavior, useful and well-followed UA strings, transcoders doing the right thing (they probably have a place, but are just too aggressive), work on interactivity and interface control, helper apps and connecting the wireless web to the rest of your phone seamlessly and maybe someday the mobile web will find its feet.

And search-initiated browsing is a /great/ point in this discussion. Should mobile-initiated search give priority to mobile results, or the mobile version of a site? I tend to say “yes.” Others seem to disagree.

Small problems compared to that most Internet web pages are not WAP compatible and crashing my browser and I haven’t yet found any interest from eCommerce businesses to make them. Why search on google relevant information and then get your browser to be crashed when clicking to site?

here’s the real solution: http://www.netbiscuits.com
any questions, v.furey@netbiscuits.com
Any company WITH resources should be investing in a rich mobile output. I love how everyone is dazzled by the iphone, when it only reps a sliver of the mobile market. On top of that, if you want to talk about trickery, the iphone is best example. Sell people a phone that isn’t even on a 3g network. My $29.00 Samsung is on HSDPA and gets to the five times faster than the clumsy iphone. Also…here’s where I’m baffled. So many page elements simply don’t work on the iphone or any “full html browser”. Why do you think every bank in this country is developing either a .mobi (bofa.mobi)site or java download (Citibank). It’s that simple, people need solutions now, that can maybe we upgraded in the future.
Last…in my opinion, Silicon Valley people and the like are Narcisstics that think everyone in this country is making
$90k-$200k a year and has the spending power to run out in buy the latest gadget like the iphone. That’s not reality, that’s bubble reality.