Search the site
What we do
Little Springs Design is a mobile product, research, design, and usability testing consultancy. We help wireless operators, associations, manufacturers, and application & website providers with product and UI design, patterns, training, research and strategy.
Contact us today.
Downloads
Sign up to get a free copy of our Mobile Widgets Whitepaper or almost-monthly newsletter. Or buy mobile Java or web design guidelines.
Recent blog entries
Blog topics
Blog archives
What do you lose?
What do you lose when you try to make your mobile web site the same as your desktop web site? Lots.
Let's assume that you apply as much diligence as possible in designing your site. You consider that the mobile site will have slightly different needs than the "regular" web site. You use a tool like Oracle's Application Server Wireless or MobileAware. You know that your mobile users will not have a keyboard, so you design your navigation and search to minimize the need for text entry.
The problem lies with the core assumption that the mobile web site is a subset of the desktop web site. It oughtn't be if you are really targeting your mobile users. This assumption is pervasive in the internet world - after all, technologies such as Javascript and Flash lag in the mobile space.
In some key ways, desktop capabilities are a subset of mobile capabilities. Consider the following features that are completely or partially lost when designing a desktop site:
| Mobile Feature | Use | Desktop Equivalent | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| SMS | Used when the users identification needs to be confirmed or when the user needs persistent information on the device | Email (not appropriate for many mobile devices) | Sites that send URLs to phones so the user does not need to type; sites that send turn-by-turn directions to the phone, applications that are implemented with text alone |
| Location | Highly localized information | IP address (gives partial and inaccurate approximation) | Tracking my child's whereabouts |
| Voice channel | Switch to voice browsing or voice input when useful | none reliable | Name that tune (Shazam) (SMS application) |
| Usually present | Communicate with the user at any time, as the device is usually on and with the user | Certain market segments are at their computers almost full-time | Alerts (traffic, weather, stock, soccer practice cancelled) |
| Camera | Use visual input and server-based image recognition (or just post pictures) | Uploading pictures from a separate camera | Paperclick takes a picture of a barcode and routes to an appropriate web page |
No Comments
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.