Designed for iPhone, Not for User

I’m browsing digg on my iPhone when a story catches my attention. According to the description, it’s a Facebook exchange between two roommates on CollegeHumor called “Who’s Bringing the Microwave?” It has 3,500+ diggs, so I click. Safari opens a new page. It’s a mobile version of CollegeHumor optimized for the iPhone. I scroll down, all the way down, but there’s no mention of a microwave, much less a Facebook conversation. I scroll back up and check the URL. I’m at CollegeHumor.com. Well, that doesn’t help. I close the page and wonder how a developer can do something so stupid.

Go back a few years. The iPhone launches and Apple CEO Steve Jobs believes in an “innovative approach, using Web 2.0-based standards, lets developers create amazing new applications while keeping the iPhone secure and reliable.” Facebook, digg, and Google are quick to jump on the bandwagon. Eventually, Wikipedia, Urban Dictionary, Amazon, CollegeHumor, ESPN, Box.net, and many, many more sites create iPhone optimized versions. Some of these sites are great, while others, like CollegeHumor, are just downright annoying.

The Right Way

Here are some tips for designers looking to create sites optimized for the iPhone.

1. Send your visitors to the page they’re looking for, not your homepage (unless, of course, they want to get to your homepage.) By sending them to the wrong page, you’re giving them two options: leave or find the page on their own. Odds are that they will leave.
2. If your site is large, make sure there is a search bar. Finding a specific article on a site as large as CollegeHumor can be impossible without a good search bar.
3. Don’t compromise on features. Just because a visitor is on a mobile device doesn’t mean that he/she shouldn’t be able to do everything the standard version of your site does. In fact, with mobile browsing on the rise, this issue becomes more important each day.
4. Don’t redirect iPhone visitors to your cell phone friendly site. Unfortunately, most cell phones have low resolutions, slow speeds, and even worse browsers. This forces developers to create a light weight version of their site. Facebook, for example, has a mobile version at m.facebook.com (for classic phone browsers) and an iPhone friendly version at iphone.facebook.com. Facebook also happens to have a great iPhone app, but that’s another story. The point is that the Safari on the iPhone can view normal sites just fine. It’s better to send iPhone visitors to your regular site than a small and funny looking cell phone version.
5. Give your visitor options. The iPhone’s browser was designed to browse regular sites just fine. For that reason, Apple does not offer a mobile version of their site. Many sites that do offer a mobile version will automatically redirect visitors. That’s fine, but make sure visitors have a choice. A link back to the regular version should exist and be easy to find. Amazon, for example, redirects you to their iPhone optimized site and includes a link to their iPhone App and the regular Amazon.com.

Conclusion

Not every site needs a mobile version. DoDesign, for example, does not have a mobile version. We don’t really need one. If you plan on making an iPhone optimized version of your site, please, I beg you, keep those tips in mind. After all, it’s simply common sense.