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[MUSIC PLAYING]
[APPLAUSE]
Welcome back to Good Morning Marketers.
More and more people are accessing the web from their
mobile phones.
This change in consumer behavior means that marketers
must design and develop websites that cater
specifically to mobile use.
Joining us today is Bruce, our development manager, and
Connie, a graphic designer, to talk about how to create
effective mobile websites.
Welcome to the set, guys.
Thanks.
Good morning.
Bruce, can you start off by explaining what a website
needs in order to support mobile technology?
Well, as you know, people accessing websites through
mobile devices is on the rise right now, and
will continue to be.
A couple constraints out there right now with mobile devices
and mobile websites are that the screen resolutions vary
from very small, very big, and the internet connection can be
a little slower than what people accessing regular
websites will be used to.
A couple things to focus on is to keep your most important
content and functionality quick, and to make it as
user-friendly as possible.
So what are some challenges, then, to creating a
mobile-friendly website?
Well, the first challenge is going to be the screen
resolution size.
Different handheld devices are going to have different
resolution.
Square, long, rectangle, you have your iPhone, you have
your BlackBerry, and you have your smartphone, all of which
will have their own respective unique experience.
So taking that into account is a major challenge.
The next is going to be the advancement in technology, so
what's coming up next?
What am I going to have to design this mobile device, or
mobile site, rather, to accommodate?
And then the final challenge is actually testing whatever
you output across these different devices.
So what is your target market going to be using?
Which ones should you test against?
What kind of emulators can you have installed or use to test?
What are some factors to consider, or how do you
overcome some of the challenges that you mentioned?
So programmatically, and when you're designing these things
code-wise, what you want to do is get back to basics.
Look at the standards, because those will not die out.
Next is watch your padding and margins on your design.
Keep it within the space, or allow it to mold within
whatever handheld resolution you may have. And then focus
on navigation.
How do they get from point A to point B as quickly as
possible to that information that they need?
Look is important, too.
Where do you begin when designing a mobile website?
There are a few questions that you can ask yourself.
Why would a user visit this site?
What is the essential information
for the target audience?
And how does this user differ from somebody
sitting at a desk?
You can use these answers to guide your process.
What are some design elements to consider?
A mobile website works best when it's simple and clean.
Make sure you include plenty of white space and color
combinations that have good contrast
that are easy to read.
As Bruce mentioned, internet connection speeds are slower,
so only include a few images, and prioritize your content so
the user can find what is essential to them.
The best mobile sites are designed so that information
is quick to access and easy to read.
Thanks to our guests Connie and Bruce for joining us today
on Good Morning Marketers to talk about creating a website
for mobile devices.
To learn more about mobile development, give us a call at
888-321-8422, or join us on the web at
www.thundertech.com.
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I can't do it.
You can do it.
Matt, can you turn the camera off, and then--
I'll turn it off.
--I'll just--
OK.
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]
to--
Did you get that on tape?
That's not very fun at all.
Sorry.
You say it's going to be here, and I'll be,
like, thanks, thanks.
Someone can say good morning, or something.
OK, I'll say good morning.
All right, all right.
OK, are we ready?
Awesome.