Web Design for the iPhone

Welcome to the world of portable website design on mobile devices, iPhones and iPod Touch, putting your website content in the pocket of your customers. The mobile phone is the central device for the next stage of web design and development of the mobile web.

Unlike a computer, digital video camera, or microphone, the mobile phone has become part of our wardrobes, an accessory for our clothing, permanently stuck to our every movement. It is the only device that can capture a consumer at the point of their inspiration. From purchasing a concert ticket from a billboard advertisement you see from your car window, to checking the live updates of current news and events in your local area wirelessly. Mobile Web is set to change the way we find information and communicate.

This transformation of the mobile web is largely due to the accelerated technical capacity and growth in storage and bandwidth that a mobile phone now possess. It has enabled current mobile phones and iPhones to run applications and handle all forms of data, from Video (MMS), text messaging (SMS), sound bytes and photos. The release of 2G phones (14kbps data transfer), 2.5G phones (64kb/s - 144kb/s data transfer) and 3G phones (384kb/s - 2Mb/s) have enabled people to be able to broadcast video off a website on their phone. An increase in screen size off the small devices such as that of the iPhone and the ability to connect from your iPhone to a wireless connection mean that iPhone and mobile phone compatible websites and M-Commerce is here to stay.

What Website content should be displayed on an iPhone or mobile phone?

So we have established that having a Web Design targeted to the mobile phone is not only one of the coolest things to do but also one of the most functional and beneficial things your company can invest in for future growth and client flexibility. The next step is to determine what content to display on a small screened device essentially important to your customers.

Simplicity and ease of use are the most fundemental principles for delivering Web Design content to a small screen mobile/iPhone device. An iPhone/mobile phone user is more than likely doing other things while they are simultaneously viewing your website content on the device. Having a navigational system and layout that enables a customer to quickly figure out how to navigate your content on a small device is essential in keeping your customer interested.

The design and flow of small screen device content should adhere to the following guidelines:

Make it user friendly and obvious how to use your website content, otherwise people won’t visit your hive.

Avoid iPhone unhappiness with avoiding clutter, unused blank space and disgustingly busy backgrounds, think minimalist.

Minimise required user input, unnessesary finger tap dancing isn’t an olympic sport just yet, so relax.

Express essential website content concisely and tastily, your customers will praise the efficiency of accurate fluid speed of light data responsiveness.

Being at the fingertips of your customers literally means to provide functional fingertip sized target areas for all of your navigation. In an increasingly larger sized Australian population, catering for the fast food fingers is essential.

Unnecessary interactivity is moistness in all the wrong places, keep interactivity to a functional level, think western and how quickly you can draw your guns.

If you require to be at the wired edge of technology and see that Web Applications on the iPhone, iPod Touch and Mobile Devices has arrived - Be Pocketed - Be Ultimoed

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