Category: mobile


Is responsive design right for your website?

September 4th, 2012 — 4:57pm

One of the new buzzwords in the web design community is “responsive design“. This refers to website design that responds gracefully to the device it is being displayed on. While on the surface this sounds like a great idea, there are some drawbacks.

  1. It’s hard to design a site that works well on a big screen, AND a small smartphone screen. Elements get re-arranged, content gets squeezed, and the user experience can suffer.
  2. It’s disorienting – users that are used to the “desktop” version of your website, can be disoriented when the site looks different on their tablet or smartphone. If they are used to panning and zooming, they may prefer the site to stay the same, and the way they are used to viewing it.
  3. Less is not more. Users on smartphones can feel like they are “missing something” if the site looks stripped down from the desktop version.

The long term solution for building websites may indeed be responsive design, but I don’t think that’s clear yet. New devices and technologies may change the landscape yet again. While you can’t ignore mobile users, going after a full re-design at this stage may be premature.

Comment » | mobile

Another big comeback for Microsoft?

July 19th, 2012 — 2:16pm

Microsoft has been the big tech company that everyone loves to hate for a long time. This probably stems from it’s early dominance of PC operating systems, when users had to endure all the shortcomings of DOS and Windows. We had no choice.

Over the years, Microsoft has adopted an interesting strategy for technology companies. Rather than innovate, and get a “first mover” advantage, Microsoft is usually late to the party. It moves slowly, but when it moves, look out. Time and again, industry observers have mistaken this “sloth” for weakness, predicting Microsoft’s decline or even demise.

Here are a few examples that I can recall of this strategy paying off for Microsoft:

  • In 1992, when I entered college, the computer labs were using WordPerfect and Lotus 123 for word processing and spreadsheets respectively. By the time I left in 1996, Microsoft Office was the standard for productivity tools – WP and Lotus were finished.
  • In the mid 1990’s, the Internet was hot. Many people gleefully chided Microsoft for “missing the Internet”. In 1995/ 96, Microsoft introduced its first version of Internet Explorer. It was buggy, and was ridiculed by the CEO of the dominant browser at the time – Netscape Navigator. In just a few years, MSIE had over 80% over the browser market, and Netscape Communications was effectively out of business.
  • In 2002, Microsoft entered the game console market. The competition was well established – Nintendo, Sega, and Sony dominated the space. Critics argued there was no room for another gaming console. Nevertheless, Microsoft muscled in, and today the xbox has over 30% market share.
  • Fast forward to the mobile space. Microsoft recently announced the “Surface” – it’s upcoming entry into the tablet market, to compete against the iPad and Android based tablets. Also Microsoft is releasing Windows 8, promising a solid platform for mobile phones. Again, critics are saying these efforts are too little, too late. But I, for one, am not counting them out. In fact, I’m sure quite a few companies in that space are very, very worried.

    Comment » | mobile

    Developing a mobile app for IOS and Android? Don’t forget about Windows!

    June 6th, 2012 — 5:12pm

    That’s right, Microsoft has a mobile OS. Don’t laugh. Remember when “Internet Explorer” was a laughing stock of web browsers? Or how the xBox would never penetrate the crowded gaming market?

    Well, IDC just predicted that the new Windows Phone will have 19% market share of mobile OS’s by 2016. Read about it here:

    http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/06/why-idc-predicts-windows-phone-will-surpass-ios-by-2016

    So if you are developing a mobile app, or thinking about it, you might want to include Windows in your platform deployment. If not, you may be adding it in another year or two. Microsoft often comes late to the party, but it brings out the big guns when it arrives, and it sticks for the long haul.

    Comment » | mobile

    The rise of smartphones

    February 20th, 2012 — 2:10pm

    Here is some data from the Nielson group on smartphone penetration:

    For The Young, Smartphones No Longer A Luxury Item

    If you look at the 18-24 year old segment, 56% of those surveyed own a smartphone.  So, if we can extrapolate out, that is quite a wave of mobile traffic coming to your website.  Your customers may not be using mobile devices to access your sites today, but this indicates that things are changing fast.  Within the next 5 years, most websites will need to be designed for mobile, OR have a second site aimed at mobile users.

    One thing I do think is that many sites can be adapted to display reasonably well on a mobile device.  So maybe that’s the play to make – otherwise you’ll be maintaining 2 sites, and compromising your content layout and structure.

    Comment » | E-commerce, mobile

    More problems with “the cloud”

    January 25th, 2012 — 1:21pm

    The other day the FBI took down megaupload.com for copyright violations, etc. (meaning piracy).  Here’s a link to the story if you missed it:

    http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2399105,00.asp

    But here’s another part of the story – millions of “legitimate” users lost access to any files they had stored there.  This type of “file storage” site is part of “the cloud” we’ve been hearing so much about.  It’s about moving your files and applications to network based storage, so you can retrieve them from anywhere.  When megaupload was closed, all access to the site was immediately terminated.  So if you had any files there, too bad.

    This highlights one of the dangers of storing files and/or applications in “the cloud” – namely that your files are held by some company, somewhere.  They are subject to legal action, hackers, financial troubles, and internal negligence.  In short, you just can’t be sure who’s holding and protecting your files.

    Also, keep in mind what the “Terms of Service” of the service say.  Do they own the files you upload?  What can they do with them?  It used to be that “content was king” – but these days “data is king” – websites like google are all too eager to give you free services, free email, etc.  What they get in return is your data – which they can scan, data-mine, etc. for value.

    Anyway, be wary of the cloud!

    Comment » | buzzwords, mobile

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