ONE of the most frequent questions we get asked about the mobile web is ‘Where do I go to learn about all this stuff?’ So here’s an extensive list of helpful tools and resources that can help you create great mobile web experiences.”

Mobile Web Resources | Mobile Web Best Practices.

Filed under: links, mobile, Web Design, Web Design History

Comments off.

FROM A LUKE Wroblewski-led mobile workshop currently in progress at An Event Apart San Francisco:

1. There are more mobile devices than there are people in the world.
2. 1.3 billion mobile page views a year.
3. Facebook says a few years form now “almost everyone at Facebook will focus exclusively on mobile.”
4. 1 in 10 mobile smartphones are iPhones. But one iPhone is responsible for twice the traffic of an Android phone (its nearest competitor).
5. 27% of all Yelp usage currently comes from mobile.
6. Web vs. Native: Facebook has 350 Million mobile users. 50% of that access is via the web. The other 50% is native (all platforms). All native apps put together equal the same usage as web.
7. “People will do stuff on the closest screen near them that is good enough.”
8. 50% of Africa and Asia only access the internet on mobile.
9. “Clinging to desktop experience and ignoring mobile is like a record company clinging to CDs while digital passes them by.” Luke W.
10. An entire generation of people starting to use the internet on mobile in Asia, Africa, etc. Kenya 20% of GDP happens on mobile devices. Mobile phones will overtake desktops as the most common web access devices worldwide by 2013.

And why mobile web (vs. native)?

1. Rapidly growing “real” businesses.
2. Access across multiple platforms and without apps.
3. Instant updates, fixes, and testing.
4. No plying in anyone else’s backyard.
5. Great way to get started with mobile.

Filed under: mobile

WE ARE THRILLED to present the two newest volumes from A Book Apart (“brief books for people who make websites”):

• Make your users fall in love with your site or application via the precepts packed into Aarron Walter’s new Designing for Emotion. From classic psychology to case studies, highbrow concepts to common sense, DfE demonstrates accessible strategies and memorable methods to help you make a human connection through design.
• Learn data-driven techniques that will make you a master of mobile with Mobile First. Former Yahoo! design architect and co-creator of Bagcheck, Luke Wroblewski knows more about mobile experience than the rest of us, and packs all he knows into this entertaining, to-the-point guidebook.

For a limited time, save 15% when you buy both together!

A Book Apart, Designing for Emotion & Mobile First Bundle.

Filed under: A Book Apart, Best practices, Brands, Design, mobile

Comments off.

THE ORGANIZATION OF MOBILE web experiences must align with how people use their mobile devices and why; emphasize content over navigation; provide relevant options for exploration and pivoting; maintain clarity and focus; and align with mobile behaviors. In this excerpt from his brand new A Book Apart book, Luke Wroblewski explains how.

A List Apart: Articles: Organizing Mobile.

Filed under: A Book Apart, Design, mobile

Comments off.

HERE IS a fine collection of articles, frameworks, and other tools for a “mobile first” approach to (mainly responsive) web design. Well done, Mr Haidara. The Multi-Size Web: a Computing bag by Eric Haidara at Bagcheck.

Filed under: Design, mobile, Responsive Web Design, Web Design, Web Design History, Web Standards

Comments off.

Jeffrey Zeldman – The Medium Comes of Age from Codeworks Ltd on Vimeo.

Filed under: CSS3, Design, mobile, The Profession, Touchscreen, Typekit, Typography, User Experience, UX, W3C, Web Design, Web Design History, Web Standards, webfonts, webkit, Working, Zeldman

Comments off.

A FEW QUICK NOTES from the first hour of A Day Apart: Mobile Web Design, an all-day learning session led by Luke Wroblewski (aka Day III of An Event Apart Seattle), Bell Harbor Conference Center, Seattle, WA:

Audience questions for Luke

1. How to take a website for desktop to mobile?
2. Do we need to care about non-Webkit?
3. Trade-offs between native and web
4. How to navigate differences between different versions of Webkit?
5. Mobile e-commerce: best practices
6. Challenges with different cultures/languages
7. Media queries
8. If no budget, what can focus on web to make mobile ok?
9. How to take a website for desktop to mobile?
10. Mobile e-commerce best practices
11. Multiple screen sizes and pixel densities
12. Time for one project: go mobile or tablet (in e-commerce)
13. CMSes and mobile—sigh
14. Best practices for page load

WHY MOBILE? Convincing clients/bosses to care

• Of the 50% of total mobile commerce in the US, 70% of it is coming from one iPhone application (eBay).
• eBay: global mobile sales $2 billion in 2010, $600 million in 2009. Real commercial opportunities emerging on mobile.
• Best Buy: mobile web users doubling every year: 30M (2010), 17M (2009), 6M (2008).
• PayPal: mobile transactions increased six-fold in 2009: $25M to $141M.

SOCIAL

• Double-digit (28%) rise in social networking on mobile web.
• Twitter: 40% of tweets sent via mobile, 16% of new users start on mobile.
• Facebook: 200 million active mobile users.
• Instagram: iPhone only app took three months to hit one million users. Six weeks later they hit two million users.
• Mixi (Japan): 85% of page views on mobile vs. 14% 4.5 years ago.

PRODUCTIVITY AND MEDIA

• Google: mobile searches grew 130% in Q3 2010
• Pandora: 50% of total user base subscribes to the service on mobile
• Email: 70% of smartphone users have accessed email on mobile device

“I don’t want to be the record executive clinging to CD sales.”

ADDITIONAL USAGE

Yelp: every other second a consumer calls a local business and generates driving directions from a Yelp mobile app.]]27% of all Yelp searches come from their iPhone application, which had 1.4 million unique users in May 2010.

Zillow.com: Viewing active listings 45% more often from mobile devices (audience is primarily active buyers, on location or scoping out neighborhoods)

Facebook: People who use Facebook on their mobile devices (200M active) are twice as active on Facebook as non-mobile users.

Shift in Usage

Let’s look at Gmail:

• Visitors to web-based emails sites declined 7%.
• Visitors accessing email on mobile devices increased 36%.

But what about mobile web usage?

Twitter Usage

40% of tweets sent via mobile.

16% of new users start on mobile.

Mobile web usage

• Mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common web access devices worldwide by 2013.
• 600% growth in traffic to mobile websites in 2010.
• Facebook and Twitter access via mobile browser grows by triple digits in 2010.
• Average smartphone user visits up to 24 websites per day.
• Top 50 websites constitute only 40% of mobile visits.
• Opera Mini traffic up 200% year/year.

For more…

Follow the live tweets at afeedapart.com.

Filed under: An Event Apart, Applications, Best practices, business, Design, mobile, Standards, State of the Web, Surviving

Comments off.

I’m enjoying An Event Apart Seattle 2011 and you’re not. Despair not, help is available:

• For real-time Twitter aggragation, watch afeedapart.com.
• Enjoy AEA Seattle photos in our Flickr group.
• Watch Luke Wroblewski dance.
• Watch An Event Apart dance for Luke Wroblewski.
• Nod along to the interstitial audio playlist.

Filed under: An Event Apart, Code, content, content strategy, CSS, CSS3, Design, HTML, HTML5, mobile, Platforms, Seattle, The Profession, Typography, Usability, User Experience, UX, Web Design, Web Design History, Web Standards, Websites, webtype

Comments off.

USERS EXPECT WEBSITES to work on their mobile phones. In two to three years, mobile support will become standard for any site. Web developers must add mobile web development to their skill set or risk losing clients. How do you make websites mobile compatible? The simple answer is to test on all mobile devices and fix any problems you encounter. But with at least ten operating systems and fifteen browsers out there, it is impossible to do that. Nor can we test only in iPhone and Android and expect to serve our market. PPK surveys the mobile web market, as well as phone platforms and their browsers, and shows how to set up a mobile test bed that works.

A List Apart: Smartphone Browser Landscape by Peter-Paul Koch

Illustration by Kevin Cornell for A List Apart

Filed under: Design, development, mobile, Web Design, Web Design History, Web Standards

Comments off.

As always, Luke Wroblewski nails it:  

When kids interact with software they explore and engage with anything that looks interesting. Especially if it looks like content. Graphical user interface components don’t.

Consider the example of Dr. Seuss’s ABC book on the iPad. The intro screen uses colorful blobs to bring attention to large hit targets. But tap on one of these elements and up pops a standard modal menu asking you to select from one of three options. Modal menu dialogs and kids don’t mix.

More at lukew.com.

Filed under: Design, mobile, software, Standards, State of the Web, Touchscreen, Usability, User Experience, UX

Comments off.