If you’re looking to overhaul your current website, then you’d be making a mistake to ignore mobile users. Mobile traffic is expected to rise tenfold by 2014 and some brands are experiencing mobile traffic to their sites of anything up to 25%. Your users are already mobile, so you need to be as well!
Despite what you might think , it’s not just a case of simply resizing your existing website and fitting it onto a mobile screen. The whole way in which users interact with mobile media, from the way in which they browse to the type of information they are looking for, vary massively when using a handheld device
Here at CD we can analyse your current site and traffic levels and then advise you on the best solution for your needs. Whether you’re better off with a bespoke mobile site catering exclusively for the needs of mobile users or feel that a fully responsive site build (where the page reformats itself according to the device viewing it, as in the example above) is more appropriate, we’ll give you best practice advice.
It may be a case of creating unique content editable though a mobile CMS, or we may be able to stream content directly from your main website ensuring both a kept up-to-date simultaneously. Either way we’ll focus on the features that mobile users want, ensuring a rewarding experience. And then we’ll make happen it for you!
Web applications, or “web apps”, combine the power of the Internet with the simplicity of your smartphone’s touchscreen interface. Designed to mimic the user experience of your individual phone, a web app is written in standard web languages and housed on a server alongside your normal website therefore allowing you all the benefits of an internet-based solutions such as:
- instant access, no requirement to go through Apple’s lengthy application process
- cross-platform compatibility, multiple versions for multiple phone platforms is vanquished
- instant updates, the need for users to constantly download updated versions is negated – every time you visit the web apps’ URL, you view the current version
- access to mobile phone UI features such as the iPhone GPS and accelerometer are still available
The downside to web apps is that by their very nature they rely on the user’s availability and quality of internet connection, not so much a problem in cities with a proliferation of Wi-Fi hotspots and 3G coverage but potentially more problematic elsewhere (although that will change). Consequently many web apps are relatively stripped down and make maximum use of HTML/CSS for styling and less reliance on bulky bandwidth-consuming images (not always a bad thing for usability actually!) to deliver a seamless operation.