Mobile web designing has reached the heights of popularity and evolution during these times. With higher statistics of mobile web users which is likely to increase again in the future days, it is really worthy to invest some precious time and thoughts in to one of the most challenging aspect of mobile web designing: Managing the usability.
Addressing the usability challenges in mobile web designing in a successful manner is still a hot question. The reason is very simple: the primitive approach followed towards the mobile usability aspects. As there are more innovations and experimentation going on in this aspect, more possibilities too are opening up. People want web on mobile to look and feel the same like when they are using a PC. It is very handy and convenient to use a smart phone for accessing the internet rather than opting a traditional desktop.
Usability in the small screen
Usability means the how easily the target users can commit to a transaction on your site and find what they want in a speedy and easy manner. It also depend on the nature of services and also the end user's smart device which is used to access the website. Some major aspects which comes under usability are discussed below:
UI considerations
Even though it seems that user interface is all about navigational elements and tabs, there is something beyond navigation too. The degree of user-friendliness and interactivity does matter a lot in providing a unique UX to the user who is accessing your site in a mobile/smart device.
Screen resolution
A small screen is very compact which forces the designer to go for a good trade off on various important issues like content, visual appearance, interaction etc. But still, a traditional website should work finely when accessed in mobile devices. The responsive design should scale smoothly in to a small-screen.
Input options
There is a wide disparity in the input options available in cross-platform devices. Many smart phone devices uses touch based screens. Most of the keypads in the smart devices will be QWERTY based but the lack of mouse really show up when the screen need to be scrolled to reach to its length and width and also while selecting objects.
OS diversity
When the devices used to access internet changes, the operating system and its related hardware and software specification also change. Most the smart devices are based on different OS. For example,all Apple phones will be on iOS while the other leading name is of Google Android. This lead to differences in visual appearances as well as in the manner in which controls are implemented. In iPhones, the Tab buttons are in the bottom area while in Android devices, it is located near the top of the screen.
Content presentation
The information hierarchy in which is the content is presented in your website should be almost same and should be seamlessly available in the mobile or smart phone devices too. The user should feel easy to get all the required information in a speedy and transparent manner.
Performance
Mobile or smart devices are still performance challenged as they are not capable of using highly powerful processors or higher band width networks. The speed in which a page loads, bandwidth, hardware capabilities etc do influence the performance of a website in the mobile or small screen devices.
When usability challenges are met properly in mobile web browsing, then you can call your responsive design a successful one.
