Design Patterns

Mobile/Desktop Switching Code

ronan — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 16:03:07 +0000

goMobi allows you to create a mobile site for your business. In order to make the best use of this mobile-friendly site we recommend that you add functionality to your existing desktop web site to automatically redirect mobile devices to the mobile site. This ensures the mobile users get the best experience even if they type in the address of the existing desktop site.

Effective Design for Multiple Screen Sizes

bryanrieger — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:32:43 +0000

So you're a designer and have been tasked with the design of a mobile web site. Chances are, unless you're designing for only one device you're quickly going to be faced with a common problem experienced by designers who work with mobile devices; figuring out what screen size to actually design for.

For instance:

Don't forget the supine surfer

ronan — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:43:40 +0000

It's easy to be waylaid by the word "mobile" in "mobile web", to assume that the defining characteristic of mobile web surfer is the fact that they are out and about. Not always so! Sometimes, mobile = not at PC. Remember that "mobile web" often means the "consumed-on-mobile-device web" rather than the "out-and-about web".

A Very Modern Mobile Switching Algorithm - Part II

James Pearce — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 11:20:03 +0000

This article follows on from last month's Part I, where we discussed some of the principles of handling mobile users and switching their experiences. If you haven't read it yet please do so before we dive into some of the technical ideas and implementation details.

One web 2.0 - social edition

jonarne — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:30:37 +0000

I bet I am not the only one wondering what Nokia was going to announce yesterday... In addition to the N97, Nokia Messaging was the big news. Put short, Nokia Messaging is enabling a bunch of IM-like services on the phone. In my mind this is an important change in the traditional mind pattern device manufacturers, and MNOs, have had until the iPhone.

Mobile Web Design: Getting to the Point - Part II

paulca — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:55:52 +0000

Following on from part I, I want to put into practice the principles that I isolated by looking at GMail, Twitter and Facebook. I’ll apply the principles to one of the most common of web applications: the online store. I want to look at three typical online store pages and then go through some ideas about how best to apply mobile web design principles to the pages.

I'll go through the process of building the site from the ground up... from simple sketches through wireframing and the final design.

A Very Modern Mobile Switching Algorithm - Part I

James Pearce — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:39:32 +0000

An important question that most web developers ask when developing their first mobile web site is "how do I distinguish between mobile users and desktop users?". Although this seems like a simple enough question at first, of course there's more to it than meets the eye. In fact, what do we even mean by 'distinguish'? How we distinguish their requirements? Their desires? The services they expect? The browsers they happen to be using?

Mobile Web Design - Working with Color

Richard Yates — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:38:11 +0000

This article discusses the role of color in mobile web design. Color used effectively allows for visually communicating information about a page without having to take up additional space within the page. As everyone learns, whether a mobile web user, or a mobile web designer or developer, screen real estate is at a premium in the mobile web environment.

iPhone web design patterns

ronan — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:39:48 +0000

We've been putting some more features into find.mobi recently. One of these features is a new skin designed specially for the iPhone. It may seem strange to have an interface that has a version tailored to one particular device but when you think about it makes sense. Our find.mobi interface already had 3 different versions, for high, medium and low resolution phones.