Designing for mobile... Help!

[Sharky]

I'm working on a few projects, and one of them is mobile based. I'm fairly new to the mobile game, so I can use some help.

Do I need to design layouts for all the different phones/OS, or will one iPhone optimized layout work?

I have an iPhone now, but when I had a blackberry I was able to view iPhone optimized sites just fine. What is the best solution here?

[Amputate Your Head]

Depends on the parameters. If you're designing for a .mobi domain, there are strict rules you must follow, or face the consequences.

[Sharky]

Originally Posted by Amputate Your Head

Depends on the parameters. If you're designing for a .mobi domain, there are strict rules you must follow, or face the consequences.

Yeah, I'm familiar with the xhtml profile and server configs... but what about the layout?

[Amputate Your Head]

Originally Posted by Sharky

Yeah, I'm familiar with the xhtml profile and server configs... but what about the layout?

Layouts are much more simplified than full-blown paysites, etc...
This is a good example: http://adult.mobi/

[Sharky]

Thanks Amp. So it seems I only have to design 1 layout, and not worry about different layouts for different types of phones... is that right?

[kristin]

Oh no, you have to worry about the layouts for each phone. We have tours catered to each device. BB's are a game in their own. You can create one site that works for BB Storm, but when Storm II came out, that site didn't work on it.

BB also is very limited in its space and they go through their own proxy first.

The Android is also making huge leaps in the % of webkit phones used. The functionality is different, for example buttons too close to the top of a site on an Android are extremely hard to click.

[Sharky]

Thanks Kristin. It sounds like this space is the ultimate clusterfuck of compatibility issues. lol

Do you have any suggestions on mobile design resources?

It seems like many people who claim to have mobile versions of their site only have 1 version... or am I wrong in this?

[AJHall]

Originally Posted by Sharky

It seems like many people who claim to have mobile versions of their site only have 1 version... or am I wrong in this?

You're not wrong. Most just have 1 version that's optimized for the more popular devices that make up the larger % of device market share. It's not much different than how we optimize standard pay sites for the most popular OS/browser scenarios that are used by the largest % of customers.

For a company like Topbucks that deals with so much traffic volume and a large number of traffic sources, that kind of granular compatibility is far more important than it is for the average site owner.

It's still VERY early on in the mobile game. Things are going to change and eventually compatibility will be a bigger issue as more people with varying devices start using them on the Web. Until then we're expecting we'll continue to see 1 mobile version being offered by a lot of companies for some time to come.

If you want to go for max compatibility Kristin and her team are an excellent resource and I'm sure she can point you in the right direction.

AJ

[kristin]

Originally Posted by Sharky

Thanks Kristin. It sounds like this space is the ultimate clusterfuck of compatibility issues. lol

Do you have any suggestions on mobile design resources?

It seems like many people who claim to have mobile versions of their site only have 1 version... or am I wrong in this?

Yes, many have one version and claim it works on all devices, which simply isn't true.

We are a bigger setup and have been doing this for a few years, so of course we will continue on with creating sites for every device. Just like we did for the Pad ... we had the second Pad site released - next to Apple.

For people starting out - focus on webkit phones. Also look at what your traffic is. Maybe you have a shit ton of Symbian traffic, then you'd want to filter that to SexGoesMobile. Maybe for some reason your users are mainly iPod Touch users, etc. You'll also see PSP and Wii traffic in there, that I can tell you is not worth creating its own tour for.

[Robbie]

If you are going to make your mobile site have a lot of "bells and whistles" like a "regular" site then yes you are going to have to make different versions for some of the OS of the different phones.

I eliminated that and went with the K.I.S.S. method for our mobile site.
I figure that someone viewing claudia-marie.com on a phone will 9 times out of 10 be showing it to their buddies. So I kept it real simple and just gave them the "meat" of the tour and members areas.

Since their login works for both the mobile version and "regular" version...they spend most of their time on the "regular" anyway.

So bottom line is...cm's site works on all phones so far. One version. And it has definitely made sales. And that is "found money" that I wouldn't have had otherwise.

EDIT: Having said that...the countdown is on for somebody to tell me it doesn't work on a phone I didn't think of lol

[FlexxAeon]

Originally Posted by Sharky

It sounds like this space is the ultimate clusterfuck of compatibility issues. lol

yep! lol. but thats because it's still 'new' and changing rapidly.

depends on what you're trying to do.... if you want to be "the next TopBucks" then you want max compatibility. but in my lane, i've had success with just optimizing primarily for the leading devices since a) it will at least be compatible with the majority of users and b) lesser devices will likely emulate what the leaders are doing.

[harvey]

just use liquid design and you'll be OK. If you're unsure, simply "hybridize" it keeping some fixed elements. End of story.

[Bird]

It way better to redirect to device specific designs. I say 3 designs iPhone, Android and Plain XHTML-MP.

[Bird]

All you need is the nokia templates for High-end, Mid-range and Low-end devices.

http://www.forum.nokia.com/Develop/Web/Code_examples/

[candyflip]

Originally Posted by Bird

It way better to redirect to device specific designs. I say 3 designs iPhone, Android and Plain XHTML-MP.

You can cut that down to two with something like jqTouch. Android and iPhone as one, and the Nokia you listed for the rest.

http://www.jqtouch.com

[FlexxAeon]

too much redirecting seems like bad news imo, especially when the difference is a few pixels here and a file extension there. most smart phones can handle anything a computer can, limits being file sizes and scripts. unless you're trying to do some next level stuff, best bet is to find the happy medium, and dish out the differentials via code & backend

Originally Posted by candyflip

You can cut that down to two with something like jqTouch. Android and iPhone as one, and the Nokia you listed for the rest.

http://www.jqtouch.com

bookmarked!!

[Deej]

Originally Posted by harvey

just use liquid design and you'll be OK. If you're unsure, simply "hybridize" it keeping some fixed elements. End of story.

right right... it depends on how fancy your site is and how you want each device to see it. If its not full of wow bangin elements, then you can get e ageneral size and be kosher over most devices... maybe even two versions but like someone said... if youre not someone like topbucks with the need and resources... youre generally ok with a proper layout making all venues happy.