In our offices, we’ve got folks on the iPhone, Blackberry and Android. We’re always peeking at them during site development to make sure our sites aren’t completely useless to one of the fastest growing user markets.

One thing we continually notice is that often times, a mobile app is much more usable on our devices than a full website. Let’s face it – the screens are tiny, our fingers are giant and clumsy and when sites aren’t optimized for these devices, browsing them can get frustrating in a hurry.

Here’s an example of a mobile app on the iPhone for a news aggregation site called Fark (where I enjoy getting my humorous sports news headlines) and the same full website as viewed on a mobile browser. The advantage to using the app is that I can see the text without zooming, click easily and quickly access relevant content, or the main reason I visit Fark’s Sports headlines.

Fark App:

If I visit the full website on my phone, I get a junky experience. The site is unreadable without zooming: I have to move the screen to read anything when I am zoomed in, and I have to wait for extra graphics, banners and ads to load on the screen.

Fark Full Website: 

To me as a user, the advantage of the app is clear. But as a developer, it introduces the issue of possibly having to develop a website, as well as an app and maybe even a mobile version of the same site. Now it seems like I’d have to support three separate platforms for the same site. However, if sites like Fark would offer a mobile-friendly version, I’d be happy, and for the most part, both versions of the site would be fed by the same information infrastructure.

A great example of this is the mobile commerce site we developed for KEEN Footwear. By simply detecting whether someone is viewing the site on a mobile device, we are able to provide a simplified HTML experience within the browser that essentially delivers the same advantages of a mobile app! Clean, simple, readable.

KEEN Mobile Site:

As a developer and provider, developing a mobile version of a site is the clear winner. Regardless of the device, users get a pleasing, streamlined experience, without the provider having to support apps for an array of devices and platforms.

Congratulations to Rodeo Austin for winning another award for its redesigned website, this time by the Service Industry Advertising Group!

"Rodeo Austin was also awarded the Bronze Award in the Website division. In 2009, Rodeo Austin was proud to partner with Wright Strategies in redesigning RodeoAustin.com for 2010 to capture the true spirit of the organization. The interactive site allows visitors to learn anything about the organization and its events as well as listen to music from entertainers booked to perform during the 2010 event, create a custom schedule or send an e-greeting card featuring a Rodeo Austin event." - Rodeo Austin Press Release

Earlier this year, Rodeo Austin also won the Best Website Award from the Texas Association of Fairs and Events. We redesigned the award-winning website in 2009, using our new Saffire Software suite for events and ecommerce. You can visit our portfolio to learn more about the site! 

According to a recent eMarketer article, marketers need to be aware of the changing US Internet population. In 2010, eMarketer predicts that 71% of the total US population, 221 million people, will be online. By 2014, that number is expected to grow to 77%.

The characteristics of US Internet users are beginning to resemble those of the US population in general. The average age of Internet users is rising. In addition, growth is occurring among all races and ethnicities of online Americans, with racial and ethnic characteristics more closely mirroring the population as a whole.

According to Lisa E. Phillips, eMarketer senior analyst, “Marketers should use multicultural marketing campaigns to target Asian, black and Hispanic audiences, because most are proud of their heritage and appreciate marketers who reach out to them with cultural messages.”

As web developers, we spend a lot of time helping our clients figure out what’s most important so we can put it above the fold (meaning viewable on an “average” configuration without scrolling). This is incredibly important, since people spend about 80% of their time looking at information above the fold.

But horizontal placement is also important. According to user interface expert Jakob Nielson’s research, Web users spend 69% of their time viewing the left half of the page and 30% viewing the right half. This is good to know when designing a website, since it makes a more conventional layout more profitable.

Here are some things to consider:

• Keep navigation all the way to the left. This is where people look to find a list of current options.
• Keep the main content a bit further in from the left.
• The most important stuff should be showcased between one-third and halfway across the page. This is where users focus their attention the most.
• Keep secondary content to the right. It won't be seen as much here, but that's okay — not everything can get top billing, and you need a place to put less-important material. 

Of course, rules are made to be broken, but if you know the rules, you will have a better shot at a profitable website.