Digital Strategy, Design and Development
Digital Strategy, Design and Development
The use and misuse of mobile CSS (see previous post) is only part of a broader landscape of issues to consider when creating mobile web services and web sites.
There is a ‘landrush’ on at the moment in the mobile web. Our mobile service providers (US – carriers) are telling us that we can now afford to access the web on our phones. Hardware and browser manufacturers are repsonding, like Nokia and Opera, by implementing phone browsers that allow us to access desktop web sites on our mobiles. The Nokia approach has been to produce a browser that allows a user to focus on a particular aspect of page, whereas Opera Mini reformats each web page so it is a better fit for a mobile device. These browsers go some way to opening up the wider web to users but their problem is that they reinforce the image of a mobile device as a secondary platform for web access.
What if it is not the users secondary device? As the price of mobile phone web access falls and Wifi availability increases it becomes increasingly attractive for web surfing on the go. With a mobile phone I am not limited to wireless web access in Wifi zone (but with an increasing number of phones I can use Wifi and mobile network web access). Also at home I no longer need to use the desktop or laptop computer to quickly check my email or Facebook messages. I can do it from the comfort of armchair.
In education (where I do much of my work) engagement of learners (especially those in compulsory education i.e. schoolchildren and some college students) is seen as a primary objective. Since an engaged learner is more likely to complete their studies with better grades etc.. Learning using mobiles has been seen as a way of engaging students who are disaffected or unable to learn in traditional modes. It also has the opportunity of allowing the student to learn in context since learning materials can easily been taken on mobile devices into museums and on field trips. However, if the learner is presented with a poor experience of learning using their device they are unlikely to be engaged and this is the risk we take when we simply try to force desktop materials on to mobile devices. We need to think about how the user is interacting if we really want to engage them and that is true for commercial as well as educational web services!
Now this post is not meant to be an advert for mobile web access (although if any service providers want to send me a cheque…. 
but mobile devices offer a means of web access which desktops and even laptops cannot offer. The same is true the other way round as well. So by simply designing web sites and services for desktop devices and relying on a small devices browser or other service to convert or format the web pages rather than genuinely delivering a fit-for-purpose experience then those users are being turned into second class netizens.
