HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
all cases, judicious editing is the first step to creating an effective mo-
bile experience.
Once you have determined who will see and use your content in their
mobile browser, think about their environment during the browsing ses-
sion. Most likely, they will be distracted while viewing your site; many
will be driving, in a meeting, or talking with others. Your content needs
to punch through the distraction, quickly deliver the needed data, and
get out of the way. It needs to be easily understood, readily navigated,
and quickly accessed. Bandwidth restrictions will most likely make your
content arrive slowly; don't make things worse by making users work to
get what they want.
Fast
and
mobile
are the catchwords.
14.4.2. Links and Navigation
Except for overly large pages, poorly designed content navigation mod-
els are the worst aspect of most mobile web pages. Many pages offer
useful content, but they make it so difficult to navigate that most users
give up and surf elsewhere. It seems that many designers, having built
complex navigation structures for a conventional desktop browser, feel
compelled to reuse that same structure in a tiny, little mobile browser. It
also seems apparent that these designers never actually try to use their
content in a mobile environment. If they did, surely they would make
things simpler and more accessible.
Moving around within a page on a mobile browser is much more difficult
than in a desktop browser. Scrolling is a pain in a mobile browser, re-
quiring many clicks of tiny buttons. Shifting focus from link to link is
similarly tedious, often requiring use of slightly different tiny buttons. Be
kind to your users: design your page navigation to avoid scrolling and
focus movement wherever possible. If you require traditional "home,"
"next," and "previous" links in your pages, put them at the very top,
where users can see them and access them immediately. Don't force
users to scroll through the entire page to find your navigation elements
at the very bottom. Use just a few effective navigational elements that
clearly indicate where they will lead the user.
