Unlocking the Mysteries

of

Mobile Browsing The Who, The Why and The What

Mobile Devices What do you

mean?

• A small, handheld computing device, typically having a display

screen with touch input and/or a miniature keyboard and weighing

less than 2 pounds (Wikipedia)

Mobile Devices What do you

mean?

• Use a native operating system (OS) to run configurable applications

• Most commonly use WiFi, 3G and 4G to connect to the web

• Smartphones & Tablets

Mobile Devices What do you

mean?

Mobile Devices Who’s using

them?

• 8.27 million mobile subscriptions in the UK

• 61% of these are contract subscriptions

• 91% adults own/use a mobile device

• Average person carries 2.9 devices

• 85% smartphones

• 29% e-readers

Mobile Devices Who’s using

them?

• 42% of internet access in the UK is from smartphones

• 63% adults use mobile devices as main means of

accessing the web

• Places mobile devices are used:

• 90% home

• 39% public

• 28% work

• 15% other

Mobile Devices Who’s using

them?

Mobile Devices Who’s using

them? • 47% of web traffic in the UK is from an Apple device

• 20% comes from a Samsung

• 39.45% mobile web traffic in the UK is from Chrome

• 32% of news site traffic

• 58% of retail site traffic

• 55% of social media traffic

Mobile Devices Why are they

important?

• Mobile browsing is more immediate

• Access to web anytime, anyplace

• Quick look up of information

• Improving hardware and faster connections

supporting the growth of mobile browsing

• Anticipated that mobile browsing will overtake

traditional browsing by mid 2014

Mobile Devices Why are they

important?

• Your users will be happier if they can access your

site on-the-go

• You will reach a larger audience, especially those on

low incomes or with disabilities

• A mobile option fits into your audiences lifestyle

• Integration with native functionality

Mobile Devices Why are they

important?

Mobile Browsing What are the

options?

• Mobile style-sheet (“Responsive design”)

• Applies a new style-sheet (CSS) to your website,

depending on the pixel width of the browser window

• Mobile optimisation

• Uses a different set of HTML templates if you’re

viewing the website on a mobile phone’s browser

• App

• Recreates functionality from your website as a piece

of software, which users install directly onto their

phone

Mobile Browsing What are the

options?

www.nhh.org.uk

• Advantages:

• Quick to create

• Easy to implement

• Cost effective

• Widely used

• Google’s preferred mobile

solution (single URL)

Mobile Browsing Responsive

Design

• Disadvantages:

• Does not resize or strip out large files

• Requires a data connection in order to load and interact

Mobile Browsing Responsive

Design

m.facebook.com

• Advantages:

• Ideal for activity-based

websites

• Faster loading times

• Stores offline activity

until next connected,

then uploads it

Mobile Browsing Mobile

Optimisation

• Disadvantages:

• Effectively another website, doubling cost and effort to

implement

• Different URL – can affect SEO results

• Difficult to find content published at an earlier date

Mobile Browsing Mobile

Optimisation

Twitter

• Advantages:

• Ideal for interactions and

transactions

• Does not require the

user to be connected to

the web view/prepare

content

• Can provide an

additional source of

revenue

• Apps can store users’

details

Mobile Browsing App

• Disadvantages:

• Longer development times

• Requires extra resource for supporting and updating different

versions

• Apps can store users’ details

Mobile Browsing App

Mobile Browsing Accessibility

• Presents similar challenges to the full web, such as:

• Links out of context

• Small and hard to read text

• Typing is slow, tedious, error-prone

• Lower bandwidth and software restrictions limit experience

• Rapid advancement and development of technologies leading to degradation

Nearly twelve million people in the UK

have a limiting illness, impairment or

disability.

Mobile Browsing Accessibility

• Market share

• Who are your target audience?

• What devices are they using?

• Native accessibility functionality

• Mobile Web Best Practice Guidelines

• http://www.w3.org/TR/mobile-bp

• Shared accessibility principles

• Progressive enhancement

• Graceful degradation

• Responsive design

Mobile Browsing Accessibility

Almost two million

people in the UK are living

with sight loss. That's

approximately one

person in 30. More than

800,000 are

severely or

profoundly deaf.

Live Examples

Questions?