Mobile Web Design – Working Code, Tips, Best Practices

Posted: November 13, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: code/files, education | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

Taking a web site to the small screen comes with a host of considerations: device width, available bandwidth, touch versus click interfaces, browsers with limited functionality, etc. At the same time, the simplicity of these mobile browsing environments lowers the barrier to entry for developers. Some basic HTML and CSS is all that is required to get started. In my research, I have learned a few things and decided to put the learning into action by creating a mobile web template available for anyone to download, remix, and reuse.

Demo: http://www.lib.montana.edu/~jason/files/m/
Download: http://www.lib.montana.edu/~jason/files/m.zip
Read Me: http://www.lib.montana.edu/~jason/files/m/_readme.txt

The above template is using HTML, CSS, Javascript, and PHP, but you could substitute any server side language for the programming logic. I also have it in my head that I can build an even simpler template with just HTML and CSS. I’ll keep people updated…

Here are some tips, best practices, and design conventions I learned along the way.

  • One column is a design convention worth following (See m.facebook.com, or m.youtube.com, or m.twitter.com).
  • Pick the essence or core pieces of your site to deliver to your mobile users. Think abridged version.
  • Follow the “m” URL conventions (m.delicious.com OR amazon.mobi OR lifeonterra.com/m/).
  • Minify and optimize your CSS (See Clean CSS ).
  • Minify and optimize your javascript (see JSLint).
  • Plan for low bandwidth – Keep images close to 1KB or under.
  • Test on multiple mobile browsers and emulators.
  • Don’t plan on javascript being available – the above template still works when it’s turned off.
  • Build your app so that it loads only necessary data when requested (Use Ajax or Server-Side includes).

I’m interested in any feedback or questions so please share in the comments. I’ve also created a more robust mobile application example for TERRA: The Nature of Our World available at lifeonterra.com/m/. If anyone is interested, I’m happy to share some of that code as well.