Monday 22 March 2010

Web for mobile Devices - WMDs you can find.

According to the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8571210.stm) and other sources, web browsing on mobile devices is set to rocket over the next few years. And while there has been a rush to create 'Apps' for the iPhone - there are reportedly 50,000 apps available - it seems that people are not considering what their website looks like on a smart phone. While you can magnify page elements with your forefinger and thumb on the screen of an iPhone, or the magnifying glass on a blackberry - ultimately a cumbersome way of viewing the content  - doesn't it make more sense to actually design your web content to work on a mobile size screen?

A brief investigation revealed that handful of popular websites do have mobile versions of their sites, but the majority of sites out there don't. So we asked ourselves why this is? Is developing a mobile site complicated? Answer: No, not especially. Is it expensive? Answer: No, it doesn't need to be.

What we discovered was that Web for Mobile Devices wasn't being promoted by that many web design companies - certainly in the UK - and or for that matter not being demanded by many people. But we suspect that this might be about to change. It seems that many people have skipped over the mobile website step in favour of developing an single function 'App'. But with 50,000 'Apps' available, it's a rather crowded market place. And then, does the 'App' really give visitors all the information they need to know about your company or service - or is just a fun distraction?

We decided that we would as part of our website upgrade, develop a mobile website alongside the main one. You can view our mobile site by visiting us via your smart phone.

If you like what you see, get in touch and see if we can develop a WMD (Web for Mobile Device) for you.

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