How to Optimize for Mobile Browsers
Nielsen projections indicate that sometime in 2011, smart phones will surpass regular mobile phones in popularity. For marketers and Web designers, this underscores the importance of optimizing websites for mobile users. Mobile-optimized websites load and function well on mobile devices, including tablets and smart phones. Users accessing a website from a mobile device often find "m." placed in front of the URL to indicate the mobile presence.
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Instructions
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Keep content short and to the point. Crowding your mobile page with droves of hard-to-read comment will drive users away. Instead, bury in-depth content a few links down, where your audience can search for more information when they get home to a desktop computer.
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Space buttons out. Your mobile users will be clicking your site's links and buttons with a touch screen. Aligning the buttons close together can cause frustrating misclicks, so be sure to space the buttons far enough apart for easy access.
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Avoid Adobe Flash Player. Flash works on some devices, but it can cause other devices to crash. As of 2011, Apple products do not support Flash player, so a large segment of your audience will be unable to load Flash videos.
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Narrow the margins. Smart-phone users don't want to hassle with scrolling left and right. Fit your content to the screen, and test your site out on multiple devices before launching. If you don't have access to all the devices, Mashable suggests using various mobile emulators found on websites. Measure loading times.
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References
- Photo Credit Thomas Northcut/Photodisc/Getty Images
