Nah! Mrasa!

When in 2007 Apple launched the iPhone not only reinvented the phone but it also introduced a revolutionary user experience that has changed definitively the way to browse the Web with a mobile device then before.
In that same period, I remember browsing the Web with a Nokia or Windows Mobile phone was an arduous undertaking: webpages was unreadable on small screens on portable devices, slow to render in mobile browsers and all available options that allowed users to fit pages to screen (for increasing readability) was ridiculously worse than the problem they was trying to fix.

With the iPhone, Apple has changed the rules of use and enjoyment of online contents with smartphones by creating an user experience that allows users to see everything at a size that’s readable and has forced its competitors to a rapid run-up to copy that model. The big success of the iPhone has also imposed, for the first time, to internet companies, online newspapers and bloggers to pay a big attention to mobile version of their websites: according to AdMob December 2009 Mobile Metrics report, iPhone OS dominates the market of smartphones generated traffic with a share of 51%.

This scenario led to a change of perspective in designing websites for mobile phones: it is not the devices that needs to adapt to the page layout, but is the page structure that needs to be designed for the specific device. The large diffusion of websites optimized for iPhone is the most concrete example of this trend characterized by one-column layout, simpler navigation bars with biggest tabs and links that perfectly fit with the iPhone’s touch interface (read also this post: Best Practices To Develop Perfect Websites for iPhone and Mobile Devices).

What could happen in the next months with the launch of iPad? Without doubt, the large screen lets users browse standard web pages in a easier way than on iPhone, so there will not be particular problems to see every website. That will change is probably the way to interact with web pages by exploiting the potential of multi-touch interface as has already happened for iPhone and iPod Touch games (take a look at Gameloft N.O.V.A. presentation on iPad during the Apple Keynote) and this will significantly influence and innovate the structure of web pages and their features.

And what about the lack of Flash on the iPad (link on iPhone and iPod Touch)? I think the Apple’s choice drastically limits the access to many websites but it could be, hopefully, a big opportunity to accelerate the slow process to switch to the HTML 5.

THE AUTHOR: Antonio Lupetti is an italian engineer, pro blogger, Mac user, founder of woorkup.com. He lives in Rome, Italy. Follow Antonio on Twitter or take a look at his Facebook Profile.

PS: Suddenly ala ala macam tasty pulak si sapa namanya dia tu, Apple CEO Steve Jobs hat kat ataih tadi tu dok present2 the new Apple iPad tu… Suddenly kan Mr. Jobs, I rase, you ols sangats candiew… tasty, very der! (Sambil cuit peha Fifi, spedo jerrrkkk! Hahaha)… Ape kata u kasik kat I segala mak nenek yang ado sangkut paut dengan Apple/ Mac??? Mrasa jgn u courier bok mai buah LAI dengan buah EPAL dah la! Hahahahaha!