Mobile Web Design for iPhone

Optimizing Contact Information

The most important part of optimizing your mobile web design for the user experience is the contact information. This should all be in text and highly visible on your site. The user can click the phone number and be given the option to “call.” They can click your email address and automatically the phone’s on-board email app kicks in with a new email with your address in the “to:” line. The phone’s mapping function can also easily show your location and give directions.

Regular Site

Of course, there’s always the user who does want all the features of a normal site, which is why it’s important to have a link back to the “regular site” somewhere on the web page. Not only is this helpful for users, but also adds another link back to a website’s main page, which helps with search engine optimization.

Once your mobile website is designed and optimized, it’s easy for customers to reach it. They simply type in your regular domain name into their device’s browser, and it automatically redirects the user to the mobile version of your website.

See for yourself how it works by accessing www.marion.com on your smartphone.

T he iPhone is probably the best example of a Smartphone, which is a cell phone with an on-board computer. It can access the internet, and therefore your website. The typical mobile web user wants information quickly and easily, without all the bells and whistles of a full site, so it’s important to have a mobile friendly website.

Do's and Dont's

There are a few Dos and Don’ts of mobile web design to make it as easy and user friendly as possible:

The Dont's

• Don’t shrink your current website to fit the screen of the smartphone, leaving your users squinting and constantly enlarging
• Don’t make your navigation icons so small that users with fatter fingers can’t push them easily
• Don’t leave Flash photos and other large file types on your website. They take a while to load and will cause users to skip to another web page.
• Don’t make it difficult for users to find your contact information on the page.

The Do's

• Do cut down on images and text to make your website easier to read for your users.
• Do create large navigation icons for all size fingers
• Do remove all Flash from your website; it does not work on iPhones and contributes to longer load times on other smartphones.
• Do make your contact information large, easy to find, and optimized to make it easy for web users to get in touch.