Script Perfect

Since the iPhone many cell phone manufacturers are developing their own version of app stores and creating mobile content to try and attract a larger user base. Blackberry (RIM) has made some drastic changes, until recently their mobile phones came with a bite sized amount of memory that could be used for applications. Now that the iPhone and similar phones are out they have bumped their internal memory way up and added microSD capabilities to try and compete.

What this means for web developers is that you have a large potential to attract a rather neglected group of people. Everyone who has a crackberry, iPhone, or mobile Palm is basically walking around with a mini computer strapped to their belt waiting to find your site. Developing a mobile platform is easier than you may think.

Whats in a name?

One of the great things about designing for mobile devices is that you can use another domain name. The .mobi names are readily available and there are still plenty of good ones remaining. Unlike dot com names you do not have to search for variations or misspellings of your existing site, odds are a name that suits your site is still available.

Screen Sizes

Mobile devices have much smaller screens which means your new site needs to take this into consideration. iPhone users have a screen width of 320 pixels while most blackberry devices are 420px. Designing a site which is 320px in width will be more than effective for both of these platforms and users will not be able to tell the difference.

If you plan on developing for other mobile devices such as flip phones then you will need to try and develop within 128 pixel resolution. So two sites between 320 and 128 will cover the majority of cell phone users.

Page Size and Design Considerations

Since most mobile networks are not up to par with the high speeds of our home connections the overall size of the site will need to be kept relatively small. A logo above 25kb may keep your page from loading quickly on some phones.

The use of flash or embedded media can be hindrance on most mobile browsers as well. Avoid using flash, silverlight, or video. Many phones do not have JavaScript, placing this in your sites code can cause some pages to crash and even freeze up some mobile browsers.

Earlier we mentioned the small amount of memory most phones had for browsing the web and running applications. This means that if your page size is too big then you risk your user running out of memory as their phone tries to render your site.

The Template

Stick with the basics, PHP is fine to run in order to process user log in and retreive data as long as you keep the number of includes to a minimum. Try running a short browser detection script to determine the resolution of the screen to direct the user to the best formatted version of your site, if resolution detection fails it is a good idea to allow the user to choose their viewing preference.

As for coding the layout. A single column page will suit your users fine, provide a reduced size logo or even better use text in place of an image. Limit your style sheets to under 20 or so classes. Provide your links in a list style format which runs vertically on the screen and limit the number of forms. Typing on a cell phone is cumbersome and many users will avoid log in and registration on mobile sites.

A good example of some simple mobile sites can be found in the list below, try a view source to see how simplified these sites are. Then view them in your mobile browser, you will see it does not take much to make an impression on mobile browsers.

tuneusin.mobi
Food Network
CNN

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