Help with BlueVoda for viewing on mobile phones etc

[pocketmug]

Hi all you wonderful smart people!

I have gotten response from friends with mobile phone/music players (I guess I can't actually type the name of the product) that my website (www.cmashmusic.org) looks "all messed up" when they view it from their phones. I don't have one myself, but I do know that when I view my site on my bb it doesn't look at all like it looks on the computer. But this is generally true of browsing the internet on my bb, so I wasn't too concerned about it.

So, is there something I should be doing to make my site properly viewable on mobile devices? I'm not the greatest at the technical side of all this, but

Thanks in advance!

-Ann
www.cmashmusic.org

[Vasili]

Re: Help with BlueVoda for viewing on mobile phones etc

The web views presented on cellphones varies according to the nature of the system itself: an i Phone as well as the Google phone (along with a handful of others) will present one of the closest actual views, but are still unable to present Flash, moving elments like slideshows and marquees, and other commonplace gizmos we take for granted.

This has been the problem with cell phones for a long time, and was what fed the appetite for P D A's (remember them? I have an HP for sale...), since not only did they posess a larger full-color screen, but the memory and programming that allowed sites to be properly "read" in the dynamic nature they were created.

Apart from investing in WAPI technology, or diving into the MOBI muck, your best bet is to keep your site:
1) Smaller, conforming, to no more than 800 wide
2) Simpler, using white backgrounds and few graphics as possible (each smaller and less complicated, reducing resolution and load time issues both)
3) More "interactive" with regard to consumers presented with more choices up-front, like links to shorter simpler pages, products, etc. rather than heavy with written Content or fancy layouts. *Linked 'Buttons' work great, and are more easily spotted/used than text links, especially on the newer phones that are touch-screen based, and the rollover effect gives the visitor "visual confirmation" that they in fact pushed it and it was engaged.

The logic that will allieviate your fear to "simplify" your site to make it more "mobile-friendly" is tha fact consumers have made the largest 'investment' by arriving at your site (so no need to engage in overkill in "branding" or enahncing the environment), and the whole point is to convert those visitors into customers: this is done by shortening the process of conversion, by simplifying the choices and streamlining the site to align with the real purpose and Business Model it was established to support in the first place --- choosing and transacting. It's a tug of war between "pretty design" and "perfect performance."

Make sense?


PS: We've only just begun the W4/G4 cell revolution .... within 13 months, the rules will be completely overwritten and the mobile community will look nothing like it does now, so don't get too dedicated to the look your website has even nownow. We will all need to evolve soon, especially with the advanced technologies soon to come from S A M S U N G and the 'new' M O T O R O L A, I am confident the majority of websites that wish to remain successful will undergo massive re-design in order to keep up. With the expanding band available now that TV is going HD, there will be a more definitive push to cut costs and increase consumer interaction via computerizaton and the internet like never before....

[pocketmug]

Re: Help with BlueVoda for viewing on mobile phones etc

Thank you!

This gives me a lot to think about, and also puts some of my fears to rest. I'll try to go through my pages and make the adjustments you suggest, and then I guess I'll sit back and relax while I wait for the technology to change completely again :)

-Ann