WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU

We design and develop web sites that are optimized for mobile device use. We can provide you with a CMS solution to keep your content suitable and relevant.

We stay current with the latest design and development best practices for mobile devices. Whether you need a simple mobile device web site or a more complex application for use in combination with a database, we can assist you.

MOBILE DEVICE WEB SITE DESIGN

With the explosion of mobile devices (or mobile equipment) with built in ability for data transfer and access to the internet via mobile web browsers – it has become increasingly important to define a standard for design and development of web sites being viewed on these devices.

A mobile device web site is designed to be optimized for mobile devices using guidelines and best practices as outlined by W3C’s Mobile Web Initiative (MWI). Prior to the explosion of Smart phones such as the iPhone and Blackberry, and devices such as the iPad, mobile device web sites were for display on ordinary mobile phones with access to the internet and a limited web browser. Now with the wide range of specificities for the varying devices, some common ground has been identified as acceptable limitations for the design of mobile device optimized web sites – with the principle philosophy: design and develop as if for one device.

In summary, mobile device design and development limitations include:

• No Flash should be used
• No “objects” or script (such as Jscript) should be relied upon
• No “cookies” should be relied upon
• No pop-ups should be used
• No nested tables should be used
• Table should not be used for layout
• Graphics should not be used for spacing
• No frames should be used
• No image maps should be used

THE BENEFITS OF A WEB SITE OPTIMIZED FOR MOBILE DEVICES

Mobile phones are the dominant medium for communication nationally and internationally, with over 30 million subscribers in South Africa alone. Personal Computer and land line connections are estimated at around 5 million. Looking at the numbers, it makes sense not to ignore mobile device access to your online presence.

THE (NON) IMPORTANCE OF THE .MOBI TOP LEVEL DOMAIN

The “.Mobi” top level domain (TLD) was made available for Mobi sites in 2006 – however, the top level domain is not a must have. A mobile device site can run off any domain that a “standard” web site can run from. It is possible to detect if the user is connecting using a mobile device and redirect them to the correctly optimized site.