Mobile Website Development - Assignment Example

?Mobile websites By Presented to June 3, Mobile websites Introduction. Access to information is the defining factor of a successful organization. There are various forms in which information is passed to the required personnel. A Website is one among the channels of availing information to target audience. As technology advances, there has been great development in mobile communication. This include the use of mobile phones to access information on various websites. Traditionally, websites were designed for computers only. Since the size and functionality of mobile devicescannot be compared to a computer, then there had to be a way that could facilitate mobile devices access a website with limited or no restrictions. As a result, mobile websites were introduced. With mobile websites, there is improved user experience, faster upload and download speeds, portability, compatibility among other advantages. There are various options for building mobile websites. This include using a custom built mobile platform, using a mobile template, using a desktop content management system, transcoding, and hybrid mobile website. All these options have advantages and disadvantages. In this project, simple mobile website is developed from a third party mobile website template. The website is designed to support all kinds of mobile devices such as smartphones, iPad among others. Using the website, the user is able to browse through the city of Melbourne tourist sites, hotels and other recreational facilities. The mobile is accessible from this URLhttp://melbourneparadise.wirenode.mobi Design Purpose of a mobile website Mobile websites are developed to enable people access online information via mobile devices such as tablets and mobile phones, hence the need for the well display of the website on these mediums. Mobile websites for any purpose needs to be easy for navigation any mobile device, to increase traffic. Mobile websites are increasingly being used by many people since online information can be accessed at any time and place, unlike the websites that require computers The difference between main sites and mobile sites The difference in expectations of site users and their interaction varies from the site model, in that, website users can move in a pattern that is vertical. This movement tends to be side by side for mobile site users, that is, right for the next page and left to move back to the homepage. The screen resolution for mobile site users is far much smaller compared to main site interfaces. This can make browsing from mobile phone to be a difficult experience. A content designed for main site will not properly display on a mobile site browser hence the need for changes. On a blog site, it is difficult to access earlier posts as it is not possible to view all the parts of the site on a mobile phone or a small device. Images and page elements meant for main websites can look garishly on mobile phone devices, requiring the need for resizing to fit onto the mobile sites. Design elements like color sheds and contrast are less important, especially for mobile phones with very small screens, as information clarity becomes the priority. The designed mobile website target audience is people interested in tourism businesses and related activities in Melbourne, Australia. The website is designed to increase accessibility by both potential and existing tourists. Funding of the website development Development and hosting of the website is free. No expenses are to be incurred. Why the subject is to have a mobile website A mobile website is designed to increase the daily traffic with up to 20%. Mobile site users get to see websites that are mobile optimized first before they get to see the normal websites. This gives the mobile sites first priority over the main sites (Mehta, 2008). The fact that mobile phones are available everywhere and are highly portable poses a threat to the existence of use of main computer website access. Advantages and disadvantages of viewing a website on a mobile phone Mobile phone websites are easy to update, keeping customers with up-to-date information. On the contrary, it is difficult to access earlier posts in a blog as it is not possible to view all the parts of the site on a mobile phone or a small device. Also, the screen resolution for mobile site users is far much smaller compared to main site interfaces that tend to be large (Avola & Raasch, 2012). Color shading and layout are not very impressive on mobile websites. How advantages and disadvantages affect design website development Every day, more and more people use smart phones and tablets to browse through sites. They need quick updates everywhere, all times. Main websites may turn to be frustrating when using smart phones as they require zooming in and out, an experience that can be eliminated by a mobile website. This will increase the overall accessibility to readers who visit your mobile website. Contents designed for main site need to be changed for proper display on a mobile site browser (Firtman, 2013). How mobile phone features can be used to make the website more effective Mobile phone features can be incorporated to enhance browsing by allocating specific tasks to phone buttons, for instance, using a call button to access a sub-title on the main menu bar. Mobile phone features can be incorporated to enhance browsing by allocating specific tasks to them, for instance, using a call button to access a sub-title on the main menu bar. Mobile phone features can be incorporated to enhance browsing by allocating specific tasks to them, for instance, using a call button to access a sub-title on the main menu bar. Importance of usability and visual appeal to the website users Since the first impression by a site user counts a lot, visual appeal is of great importance. It has effect on purchase intend and the possibility to re-visit the site, perceptions of trust, reliability and negative site attributes.Colour shading and layout are of great importance as the text elements (Campesato & Nilson, 2010). Reflection Though it was possible to create a functioning mobile website using the mobile building tool at wirenode, its functionality were limited. The design was preset thus it was difficult to add the features I desired. The features found to be of importance on the building tools was the present of widgets. This widgets allowed creations of things like Photo gallery, contact forms and click to call easier. References Avola, G. & Raasch, J., 2012. Smashing Mobile Web Development. s.l.:John Wiley & Sons. Campesato, O. & Nilson, K., 2010. Web 2.0 Fundamentals: With AJAX, Development Tools, and Mobile Platforms. s.l.:Jones & Bartlett Learning. Firtman, M., 2013. Programming the Mobile Web. s.l.:O'Reilly Media, Inc. Mehta, N., 2008. Mobile Web Development: Building Mobile Websites, SMS and MMS Messaging, Mobile Payments, and Automated Voice Call Systems with XHTML MP, WCSS, and Mobile AJAX. s.l.:Packt Publishing Ltd. Read More