People are increasingly using their mobile phones and other mobile devices to interact with the Internet. Smart phones like the Apple iPhone, Google’s Android phones, and the Blackberry make it possible to take the web with you where ever you go.
Mobile phones, Apple iPads, and other small, portable devices like PDAs (personal digital assistants), see the web somewhat differently to how desktop computers see it. The makers of these devices have to balance functionality with speed and battery usage, so there are some restrictions that have to be catered for when building websites for mobile devices.
WebAware can build your website to work on modern mobile devices. We can also help you target mobile web users with a site tailored to phones and PDAs.
Mobile / PDA Themes
If you want to present your whole website to mobile users, we can design and create a theme that will be used when people visit your site from mobile phones. We can do that either when they use a special website address, like m.example.com instead of www.example.com, or when a mobile device is detected. We recommend using a special website address, because some people prefer to view the full website from their mobile using pinch-to-zoom.
Mobile websites are best kept simple, so that they load quickly and fit within the smaller viewing areas available on phones and PDAs. They also need to take into account that there is no mouse — just a finger (and often a fat finger!) or a key-driven cursor — so special drop-down and pop-up menus and navigation aids don’t work the same.
Mobile-Specific Website
Another approach to catering for mobile web browsers is to have a separate, more lightweight website that removes any clutter. This approach is especially good for websites that provide information for the public, because it makes it easy to find the necessary information people need when they are out and about with a web-connected phone or PDA.