Welcome to the new Internet User -
The Mobile User!
It's been in the works for a long time now and most companies are not sure how to adapt! Welcome to the mobile Internet user.
A person who visits your site from a mobile device is likely using a Blackberry, iPhone, iPad or tablet device of some sort. What is especially challenging is how to design a web site to not only service this kind of user but also the one who views your site from a traditional Desktop browser. As if Web designers didn't have enough to think about already! Several things need to be taken into consideration when designing a site to fit this wide range of users.
1. The site needs to automatically detect the users browsing device and adapt the page accordingly. This is not just dealing with layout but also the slower speed of the mobile device if it's using 3G - which most do.
2. The iPhone and iPad do not use/support Adobe Flash Player. So, if your site uses flash - forget it - it will not display on these devices. You need to convert these animations to something like HTML5, use javascript or simply omit displaying these elements altogether for mobile users.
3. Design for the devices' capabilities including screen size, font size, etc. Also, remember that phone numbers can be dialed if they are linked. This allows users of the iPhone and iPad to simply touch a phone number and dial you! A super feature IMO!
HTML5
HTML5 is currently under development as the next major revision of the HTML standard. Like its immediate predecessors, HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.1, HTML5 is a standard for structuring and presenting content on the World Wide Web. The new standard incorporates features like video playback and drag-and-drop that have been previously dependent on third-party browser plug-ins such as Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, and Google Gears. Most importantly, HTML5 opens the door for more wide-spread applications of Web site for mobile devices include phones, tablets and others.
HTML5 will allow Wild Web Studios to develop next generation website for mobile devices - which are expected to out sell desktop computers in late 2011. We are prepared for this transition and have already begun developing new web sites in HTML5.


