accessing a website from a mobile

red_devil

I read that most people are using mobiles to access the net these days so therefore your website needs to be compatible. Is this correct if so do you have to pay to have it mobile compatible?
Confused.com

[Deleted User]

Some mobile phones can view 'most' websites in exactly the same way as you would on a PC.

However, a lot of websites (e.g. the BBC) have a specially optimised 'Mobile' edition that works a lot better on phones. I would expect that if you're having a site designed for you, you'd pay extra for this service.

red_devil

so people will existing websites dont have to do anything>

paddyrg

Good web sites are easily rendered by good mobile devices, but you can make things easier for yourself by making the site 'flow' well and not having minimum width elements in HTML tables, etc., and avoiding Flash (Apple products don't render flash, unlike Android ones), complicated javascript, badly-written CSS, etc. A good designer will know these things, especially if you ask for them specifically.

If you can write a 'trimmed down' version of the site (so large images have smaller counterparts, you're not doing horrible script things that make sense on a desktop, and ming on a small screen, etc), and is in good, standards-compliant HTML/CSS, you'll make a site that is more pleasant for mobile users as well as desktop ones :-)

Snakeeyes21

paddyrg wrote: »

Good web sites are easily rendered by good mobile devices, but you can make things easier for yourself by making the site 'flow' well and not having minimum width elements in HTML tables, etc., and avoiding Flash (Apple products don't render flash, unlike Android ones), complicated javascript, badly-written CSS, etc. A good designer will know these things, especially if you ask for them specifically.

Surely thats a reason to use lots of flash? who wants an apple user to buy from them, horrible horrible people
plus they have no disposable income coz they are spending it on overpriced phone contracts :rotfl:

steve1980

red_devil wrote: »

I read that most people are using mobiles to access the net these days so therefore your website needs to be compatible. Is this correct if so do you have to pay to have it mobile compatible?
Confused.com

Depending on how "hungry" your website is it shouldn't need to have it's own mobile version. If your site is built with Wordpress you can download a plugin to make the site mobile friendly.

Savvy_Sue

red_devil wrote: »

I read that most people are using mobiles to access the net these days so therefore your website needs to be compatible.

Who says? Wouldn't be a company that specialises in producing 'good' websites for viewing on mobiles, would it?

red_devil wrote: »

so people will existing websites dont have to do anything>

depends whether or not you think YOUR CUSTOMERS / the people you want to read YOUR WEBSITE are in that 'most' group.

I've never used my mobile to look at a website. Can't imagine why I ever would. Tried to use my Kindle once, that was enough to put me off ...

InsideInsurance

Probably use a mobile device to look at websites more often than a PC these days.

Even if it isnt resource hungry sites that need to be wide by the nature of their layout are not going to look good on mobile devices, some companies dont care and allow mobile users to suffer, others see mobile users as key customers and so will create a lite version of the site.

There are also additional features on a mobile like GPS that you can explicitly write for so you can change your "find your local store" system to tap into the mobiles GPS feature then the customer instantly sees the store most local to where they are which can be useful if you are in a town you dont know and so normally have to mess about finding a postcode or street name to enter.

paddyrg

Snakeeyes21 wrote: »

Surely thats a reason to use lots of flash? who wants an apple user to buy from them, horrible horrible people
plus they have no disposable income coz they are spending it on overpriced phone contracts :rotfl:

Or... Ideal customers - very loyal to a brand over function, willing to pay over the odds, prepared to buy into closed-shop vendor lockins (iTunes etc) despite premium pricing for an unexceptional service, and best of all, keen to evangelise the product loudly and brashly as they feel it is an extension of their identity, therefore must be the only one true way...

Those are awesome customers!!

I think Apple do a brilliant job, but am somewhat indifferent to their products.

Horace

If I want to access a website when I am out and about, I use my android phone and search via Google. So far I haven't had a problem accessing any sites.

I even access Twitter via my mobile and since my phone stopped allowing me to update its flippin' software I now access twitter via Google on the phone and am permanently logged into my twitter account.