The iPhone is the perfect platform for companies that wants to get “friendly” with their customers that are on the move! We are increasingly being asked to advise on iPhone friendly websites and how they work.

Most websites are still viewable (but are NOT “friendly”) on the iPhone, because the user can zoom in so that text is legible, however this is not ideal for the user when they have to scroll across the screen a great deal more. You have to build your site specifically for mobile media. It is best not to exceed 320x480 pixels, which is one reason for having a separate website specifically for the iPhone.

The main reason for adopting a website dedicated to the iPhone is if your current site is purely flash based, or contains any Flash elements, such as Flash banners or embedded videos it will not be viewable on the iPhone or any other mobile devise. Also users are now wanting information on the move and companies need to be seen to be technologically savvy.
At EC Design we have tackled the issue of mobile friendly websites and believe companies should be seen as “early adopters’ to this new technology. If you are thinking of becoming an early adopter of an iPhone site, here are some useful tips:

• The iPhone site should mirror your main site visually for design consistency
• Design no larger than 320x480
• Correct page size code - add a meta tag (<meta id="viewport" name="viewport" content="width=320;">) in the header section of your website code, makes your webpage compatible and friendly with iPhone browser
• Minimize the code to as much extent as you can
• Remember less is more
• Prioritise key information
• Contact details should be prominent

Labels: HTML, new technologies, web design