Frontier India Technology

Written on October 7, 2007 – 9:58 pm | by P Chacko Joseph |

If you think creating a mobile version of your Web site for handheld devices is just a matter of taking the same content and fitting it on a smaller screen, think again. This is one of the biggest mistakes companies make, say the .mobi experts at MyDomain, one of the leading Web site hosting companies and one of the first .mobi accredited Web site developers.

The right way to do it is:

1. Mobile Web users aren’t looking for pages full of content, they are looking for quickly accessed and easily digestible pieces of information that are useful to them on the go.

2. Determining what information is important to the mobile Web surfer. A person surfing the mobile Web is usually interested in a company’s most basic information. They want contact information, address, directions and a summary of the services they provide.

3. Understanding how Web site navigation is different on a mobile device and the importance of keeping it simple. Fancy navigation on a mobile Web site is not only a bad idea, it actually can inhibit use.

4. Understanding what is involved in taking credit card orders over a mobile Web site. Taking e-commerce credit card orders on a phone is not a problem, but it is important to understand that a separate mobile payment processor is necessary.

5. Knowing when and when not to include images on a mobile Web site, how to optimize those images that are included, and why this is so important: The most important point to keep in mind is that huge images are not going to display correctly on a mobile site.

6. Understanding mobile Web site link coding and how it is different from a regular Web site — i.e. “hot keys”. “Hot Key” link coding is essential technology to use. This is a way to code the pages so that the numbers on the phone correspond to links on the page and activate them. This makes navigation much easier for the Web surfer and improves the odds that they will return to the site since getting around is intuitive and simple to handle. Phone numbers can be coded so that when clicked, they automatically have the cell phone dial that number. Since many mobile site visitors are looking for contact information, the phone number link will most likely be the most used feature on the site.

7. Knowing why it’s extremely important that all Web site code is perfect. Mobile Web site browsers are not as forgiving as Internet Explorer or Firefox. It is extremely important that the code for a mobile Web site be exactly perfect so that it is able to resolve to the mobile browser without errors.

8. How to know when you’ve got it right — ready.mobi. There are many tools available to determine how ready your current site is for mobile use and also to determine if a site you are working on is going to work correctly. http://www.ready.mobi is one example of this.

9. Perceived difficulty understanding and managing the code and content on a mobile site. There’s nothing fancy or new about managing the code and content on a mobile Web site. It works exactly the same way that a regular site does. The difference is only that it needs to be simple, optimized for small file sizes, and coded perfectly — with no errors. Obviously, it also needs to be laid out so that all of the content fits into a small mobile devices window.

10. Determining the proper functionality to include on a mobile site. Many of the tools and items that are found on regular Web sites will work perfectly on a mobile site. Forums, blogs, polls and forms, for instance, work great on a mobile site. However, flash video, dropdown navigation windows, and heavy file sizes will not. It is important to keep a mobile site simple and easy to use. While flashy aspects can make a regular Web site artistic and fun, it will
make your mobile Web site difficult to download and can make the user experience frustrating.