With the internet increasingly accessible everywhere and anywhere, it is important to keep in mind that users of your site might be accessing it through a mobile platform rather than through a traditional browser.  This means your site should be accessible to these users, something that requires a certain amount of retooling.  Preparing your site for mobile users means either designing a mobile specific page or creating a separate style sheet for each page of your site, which will automatically be pulled up by mobile browsers.  The later option is the most practical, as it means simply rewriting one part of the site, as opposed to redoing it from the ground up.  This does not mean, however, that designing solely for mobile users is a bad idea, it is simply more time consuming.

Providing a mobile version is important, especially if your site uses a lot of code that is flash or java based.  Most mobile web browsers provide decent html support, some provide javascript support, and almost none support flash or java active in the browser, not even Apple’s iPhone, despite providing the most authentic mobile browser  yet.  This means avoiding this type of application for your sites mobile version.  You should also test out the fonts and formating you have on your site to make sure they render properly in a mobile window.  You should be very careful with tables and lists, as they often break when used in a small mobile window.  By limiting their usage and size in your CSS table you can quickly and effectively make your site easier to use.  Images are alright, but you should use as few as possible and ensure they resize correctly.

Now, with your site redesigned it will likely be less functional and less attractive than the original.  This is a necessary evil in order to provide mobile offerings for your customers.  But this does not mean your site has to be less useful, indeed by marketing pages that are more geared toward mobile users, you can go after the niche early.  Providing applications that can benefit mobile users makes your site an even better resource than it was before.  Google is already targeting this market, providing mobile applications to various smartphones, but anyone can get involved, all it takes is the knowledge to work on the software.

Working toward providing your site to as many users as possible is a good goal that can also help increase profits in the long run.  All it takes is a commitment to developing for multiple platforms, similar to those made in the nineties toward multiple browsers.  In time, more and more users will have access to mobile browsers, it is content that will determine whether or not they are users.

Posted by Ian Logsdon.
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