The wireless Internet is taking off. New ISPs as well as existing ISPs are scrambling to provide service to this growing new market. Yet in this service boom, many of these companies are testing the wireless waters for the first time. These pioneers are discovering that the trail to wireless Web success is rocky and fraught with peril. Web designers are finding themselves caught in the middle, trying to serve a vast new market of devices.
Identifying the Trouble Spots
This new way of connecting to the Internet requires a re-thinking and retooling of the way many things are done. While your site menus may look terrific in Internet Explorer, how do they look on a handheld device? Are they useful? Do they even function?
What works in a full-fledged browser may not function at all on a wireless device. Sometimes the problem occurs in the translation to wireless format. Screen scraping (the process of extracting data from generated Web pages and formatting it for wireless devices) often results in badly formatted pages that sometimes don’t work.
Graphics are also problematic. Elaborate animations or sites that contain too many graphics might not display at all on wireless devices, or they might be too small to understand. Some devices, especially WAP browsers, are only able to see a few lines of text at a time.
Solutions – The Basics
Developers are pushing for XML as the new glue to hold together the Web. XML is referred to as a “browser agnostic” language – one that is not dependent upon a particular browser to function. This lack of browser dependence makes it ideal when you’re designing sites and Internet utilities targeting wireless devices.
There are many good reasons to move to XML. Not only is it easier to set up formatting for a variety of different browsers, but XML also helps to simplify site maintenance. Instead of repeatedly updating an entire site, XML lets you update information in one location. It’s also the basis of Web services and most types of large online database manipulation, so it’s definitely a technology on the rise.
Rethinking the Approach
However, there’s a lot more to creating a wireless site than simply using XML. The way people use handhelds is different than the way people use PCs. Wireless device users are typically interested in finding information – fast – wherever they are located. Speedy access and ease of navigation are the two main considerations when creating Web pages for this group of users.
Since many wireless devices are difficult to type on, try to limit the amount of user input that must be typed. Also cut down on the number of pages users must go through in order to get to their final destination as well, and if you can replace typed selections with menu items, do so. It’s much easier to make selections than it is to type in a lot of text. Some of the smaller displays will allow viewers to see just three selections at a time, so keep the number down if you can to minimize scrolling.
Some wireless devices allow color and sufficient screen size for graphics, but limit these for your wireless users as not all devices support these well. Aim for monochrome displays that fit neatly into a small area. Keep in mind the screen size that your viewers will be using. Some wireless devices only have a 1-inch square sized screen. Considering this limited viewing area, it’s plain that your text should be brief and to the point.
While limited in other areas, wireless phones possess an ability that computers do not – you can actually include phone numbers in a page for users dial automatically. Adding phone numbers to a wireless Web page may in some cases be more useful to the user than including links to other Web sites. Consider the way the user will interact with the site and include phone numbers where they add convenience.
Checking Your Work
The only way to be sure your pages will look good on wireless devices is to use a wireless device to access them. Obviously, test your site on as many different devices as possible. Emulators can be a big help here – the latest version of Adobe GoLive offers a wide selection of emulators to let you see what your site will look like on different kinds of devices. Other development tools including emulators are available for purchase and download, although you may need to have the actual devices available in order to use some emulators (like the Palm OS emulator available through Palm).
Less is More
Usability and functionality are your goals when you design pages for the wireless Web. As more users begin to access sites with phones and PDAs, the need for well-formatted, usable pages will increase. Paring down your site and getting truly organized will help not only your wireless visitors but your PC-based visitors, too. The addition of wireless to the mix may help us as designers, causing us to return to the basics of Web design where design adorns functionality, instead of vice versa.
Jackie Rosenberger is an editor with murdok
