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Being mobile means you have access to the Internet away from your home or office, with a computer, cell phone, or PDA, and without the use of wires to connect. If you’ve ever used your cell phone to look up directions, you have used the Mobile Web. Wireless technology has increased in prevalence because the hardware required to operate wireless technology has become smaller and faster. More and more people are using their phones and other devices to access the Mobile Web than ever before. As a web designer, you need to be aware of how the Mobile Web works and how your website might need to be changed to be used with the Mobile Web. This article covers some of the most common mobile web devices and software. Then it covers what can and can’t be done on the Mobile Web, and finally, how to make your website mobile compatible.
Why you should care about the mobile web
Would someone walking down the street or driving in a car be interested in the information offered on your website? You might not think so, but consider these situations:
■ Someone standing in a knitting store, trying to decide which needle to buy, can access a knitting website to see what it recommends.
■ Someone trying to find a particular item in a local store can find an image of the item online, through a site that sells the item, and use the phone or PDA to show it to the store clerk.
■ Someone with a taste for cannoli can use their cell phone or PDA to search for local Italian restaurants that have posted their menus to the web and that offer cannoli. As these examples illustrate, websites that cater to the mobile market will see traffic increase.
How people access the mobile web
If you want to use the Mobile Web, you first need a device that provides a connection to the Internet. A cell phone, PDA, or wireless laptop would all work. Then you use a browser built in to your device to go to an address, similar to the browser you use on your computer to access the internet. Mobile web devices can access almost any web page, but some pages are specifically designed for mobile web users. These pages display better and load faster on mobile devices.
Become a mobile web user
To be an effective developer of websites that are accessed by mobile web devices, you should be a mobile web user yourself. Check to see whether your cell phone or PDA accesses the Mobile Web. If you don’t have one, try to get access to one so you can see what websites look like on these devices. If you are building sites specifically designed to be accessed by the Mobile Web, it is important to have a mobile web device on which to test your website.
Mobile web devices (MWD)
At one time computers used to fill whole rooms. They used vacuum tubes and punch cards to run complex calculations that helped book air travel and build the atomic bomb. Things have changed. Today, devices such as cell phones and PDAs are many times faster and much, much smaller. To understand how to use the Mobile Web to your website’s advantage, it is important to know the tools available. Let’s explore some of these devices and how they work.
Cell phones
We definitely can see the age of the telephone connected to the telephone network through wires from your house to a central switching office are changing. Go to a college campus these days and stand in one place, and just count the number of cell phones you can see. We are no longer tied down to the phones on our desks. We do more with our phones than ever before, and they are becoming indispensible. We can listen to music, take pictures, and even connect to the Mobile Web. These devices are sometimes called smart phones.
Personal digital assistant
Along with a rise in cell phones, the early 1990s saw the introduction of handheld data devices. The air around you is being filled with data being sent to and from PDAs. Do you know someone with a portable email device such as a Blackberry? This is also connecting to the Mobile Web.
Mixed devices
It now seems that the devices people carry around in their pockets can do just about anything. I have an iPhone, and I can make calls, send text messages, take pictures, and access websites. All from a touch screen I carry around in my pocket.
Other devices
Mobile devices are not limited to what you can carry around in your pocket. There are small mobile devices that users carry around or use in their cars. More and more we are going to see web access on things we would never expect. The other day I saw a refrigerator that had a screen on it. If it can have a screen, you might be able to access the Mobile Web with it.