Optimize Your Site for Handheld Devices
By
VendorSeek
Millions of browsers are using the Internet – from their handheld devices. Technology is propelling us forward by changing business’ landscape, the way we communicate, and how we retrieve information. Business is still business. Is your Web site designed for handheld users?
The handheld challenge Most Web pages are purposed for desktop computers affixed with large, color monitors. Handheld devices are restricted by small screen sizes. This limits the amount of information that is accessible to the eye at one time. Other challenges include:
- Mobile devices have a variety of display sizes
- PCs display images in 32-bit format. Most handhelds feature a 12 to 16-bit format. The difference is between thousands of colors and millions of colors.
- Text inputting is slower with a mobile device as opposed to a PC
- Mobile devices lack a mouse, making interface component activation slower
- Some mobile devices support only vertical scrolling. Soft keys are used to activate commands
- There is a smaller amount of data that can be saved on a handheld device
- It is more difficult to determine the context of usage in relation to handheld devices
A different view You have to think about different content display formats. Direct migration involves your site appearing on handheld devices as it would on a PC. A positive aspect of this format is that browsers who are familiarized with your using a PC will know where to find information.
Unfortunately, that is one of the only positives of direct migration. There are a number of problems using direct migration. It becomes laborious for users to scroll horizontally, and large areas with no text may cause browsers to get lost, etc.
With a linear format, pages are displayed one after another in a single column. The layout of the site is changed to a linear format that fits within a device’s width constraints.
There are ways to better optimize your site to facilitate the linear method. Organizing your content so the user receives the most relevant information at the beginning of the screen is helpful. This way, the page organization will make the most sense to the user.
Depending on the amount of information on your site, columns can be very long. Use “skip to” links to make the perusal process easier for the navigator.
Making it big on the small screen
Become the user when designing pages for handheld devices. The following is a list of suggestions to make the best of your users’ experience:
- Be consistent with alignment and layout of pages
- Align content to the left
- Keep descriptions as succinct as possible
- Limit the number of varying colors per page
- Maintain the same color for similar page elements throughout
- Avoid using varying fonts and sizes
- Avoid using blinking text
- Be consistent in how text sections are separated from each other
- Avoid using long blank spaces. Users may think that a section is finished when it is not.
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