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Poll: Do you want to view web pages mobile-friendly on your iPhone?

Posted January 12, 2009 9:11 PM by Chris Howard
Categories: Poll 

Before the iPhone, web developers went to a lot of effort to code mobile-friendly variants of their web pages. Of course, the iPhone changed all that, allowing web pages to be viewed as they were originally intended and coded. But I stills see talk of coding for mobile devices. I don’t know about you, but that is oh so 2006 for me. I tried mobile variants of web pages on my iPhone but hated them.

So, a little pop poll, do you want developers to continue to develop mobile friendly web pages to view on your iPhone?

(A) Yes, definitely, the tiny screen drives me nuts for viewing web pages normally
(B) Maybe… for some…
(C) No way, the iPhone displays pages the way they’re meant to be seen and that’s what I like and the zooming works great.

So in the comments, let us know which you reckon or if you have a different answer.

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Comments

  1. B. Mobile pages load quicker but lack the content.  I see the need for mobile pages until 3G is abundant; the NYT website takes forever to load all those ads but USA Today loads quickly. I still prefer the full web, but speed is king.

    Posted by carl on January 12, 2009 10:15 PM

  2. B definitely.

    Some pages are just too nice to destroy with an iPhone version.

    On the other hand some are just prime for iPhone viewing. One of the most well thought out iPhone variants is Google reader for the iPhone. There are also many others which render so well on the iPhone.

    Posted by John on January 13, 2009 12:53 AM

  3. I cannot zoom the mobile pages. This makes the full web pages more useful for this old man.

    Posted by CoolPersonRobert on January 13, 2009 6:06 AM

  4. B. Sites should ideally be built in such a way that the device accessing the content is irrelevant, such as by leveraging Cascading Style Sheets. If that is not possible in a given circumstance, and a sufficient percentage of your target audience is mobile, then that would seem to justify a mobile GUI being coded.

    Posted by Jonathan Cooke on January 13, 2009 8:51 AM

  5. B. Some pages are easier and faster when coded for mobile phones. As an extra they eliminate alot of the incessive clutter including obnoxious video/animation adds that zoom out to fill up half the screen. When I need fast access to a site these are better since there is no need to continously scroll around waitnting for the page to render.

    Posted by djman10 on January 13, 2009 11:56 AM

  6. B. Some interfaces are well designed for mobile browsers, and work better.  Online banking site and airline/rail booking sites work more efficiently in mobile format.

    Posted by Alan on January 13, 2009 12:26 PM

  7. B: some functions in standard pages work really bad on the iphone and could be changed for a mobile page. Also, some pages are meant to be seen in fullscreen 1024*768, and thats tiny on an iphone

    Posted by joppz on January 13, 2009 3:20 PM

  8. B, except… give me the option.  I don’t like how sites like iGoogle will not allow the iPhone to view the desktop version of the site.

    Posted by toddfsu on January 13, 2009 4:18 PM

  9. I was always taught that web pages should be developed for the lowest common denominator PC or user. The trend towards larger monitors has meant that web developers now code for higher screen resolutions so they can fit more on a page and be cleverer, which basically runs counter to basic usability. The growth of mobile devices has shown the inadequacy of that approach.

    The solution is not to have variants designed specifically for mobile devices, but for developers to properly consider the needs of all users and design accordingly. It’s about good UX design—there are some lovely sites still aimed at 640 width screens that require very little zooming on the iPhone and also serve the needs of desktop users better than the ‘jam-it-all-one-one-screen-1280-pixels-wide’ approach.

    Until that time some sites, especially those requiring data entry, will be tricky on the iPhone and mobile versions will still be necessary.

    Posted by Clive Conway on January 13, 2009 5:08 PM

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