When Taking Your Website Mobile, It’s Strategy First

As the iPad and smart phones continue to be the talk of the technology town, many of our clients have been raising questions about how or if they should optimize their website for mobile devices. I sat down with Fathom’s VP of Technology, Ryan Rose, to get his take on the mobile trend. Ryan’s world is immersed in mobile right now. Along with investigating options for Fathom’s diverse client base, he is currently spending his off-time creating a business and mobile app for SmallTalk, an idea that won at October’s Startup Weekend Hartford.

Suzi: Why has the buzz about going mobile been cranked up to an all-time high?

Ryan: There is research suggesting that, by 2014, mobile internet use will be higher than traditional desktop internet use. The technology to build and view websites on mobile has improved and more people are becoming power users — turning to their smart phones and tablets, like the iPad, to do everything. This combination is driving the trend and making businesses stand up and take notice.

Suzi: When you talk with companies about “going mobile,” what conversations are you having?

Ryan: Many times it begins with helping them make sense of what it means to redesign and rebuild a website for mobile. Most companies are not sure how to respond to the push to create something for mobile because this is new territory for them.

S: Can you give us the 101 on the differences between building a website for a mobile device and building one that is viewable on a mobile device?

R: A website viewable on a mobile device is a website that was originally built for the web but has been modified to work on mobile. A “mobile website” is customized to create an experience for mobile. The third option, a mobile application (i.e., what everyone knows as an “app”), is driven by interactivity and a specific purpose. Knowing the differences is important to answering the question you need to ask first: “What type of experience are you looking to create?”

S: How does someone begin to answer that question?

R: Determining the purpose of the mobile website or app will drive the decisions for what is created. Prioritize what your mobile website should offer. What are your users trying to accomplish when accessing your mobile website? Identify that and make it the most prominent feature.

S: When you’re working with a client on their mobile strategy, where do you start?

R: We start by discussing the environment we’re working within. The smaller screen on a phone limits what you can do for design and functionality. I think people tend to look at a mobile device as just being a smaller version of a desktop but it’s a different environment altogether. Just like when websites were new, mobile is unfamiliar territory that’s forcing us to think differently about our approach. Like the earlier websites, everything is content-driven and it’s about the information. It’s not about being flashy. The interaction is also different. With touch screens, users expect to move things around with their fingers versus a keyboard or mouse. The experience you help create needs to minimize different frustrations than those found on the desktop. Pinpointing how anyone can click on a link with their finger requires different considerations than how someone uses a mouse.

S: If a website is content heavy and contains a large amount of copy, images, links and videos, how do you determine what lives on the mobile version?

R: An opinion about what is designed and developed for the mobile version needs to be held up against the “is this critical to the experience and our brand?” question. Because, along with being conscious of the experience, what’s true to your brand needs to be front and center. The mobile version of your website or an app is an extension of your brand. It will become a different experience than your original website and that’s a good thing but it still needs to be true to who you are.

S: Where is the trend of mobile going?

R: For developers, it’s becoming easier to build on mobile devices making it more universal. Before, we were tied to building mobile apps using native programming languages (coding specific to one type of device). For instance, Android is built on Java and the iPhone uses Objective-C. Now that we have HTML5, an open source language that can be used on any platform, we can build an app one time instead of building different versions. The only downside to HTML5 is that it’s new. The technology doesn’t allow you to do as much as you can on a native app. But, there are upgrades every week and the technology is improving. I see the really big shift happening when big companies push to develop for HTML5 instead of being required to put resources towards building apps for six different platforms.

S: What is most interesting to you when it comes to building for mobile devices?

R: The most interesting thing about mobile is the new opportunities mobile platforms allow for which traditional desktop systems don’t. Mobile devices offer technology that is more integrated and more sensitive to the human experience. Traditional desktop browsing is passive by nature. Mobile features like GPS and the compass allow direct interaction with a user’s physical environment. We’re just skimming the surface of possibilities.

Posted by: Suzi Craig
Email the author: suzi@fathom.net