Special Edition: Mobile vs. Normal Websites

I recently published an article about the growing importance of mobile websites. The author of it linked to another article his own blog about Sly Filters Going Mobile. In the comments section of that blog I asked the author the following question:

Question:

What are the differences between mobile and normal websites?

Answer:

Hi Nate,

The real difference between websites for mobile devices and websites that are viewed on desktop computers or laptops is the way they are formatted.

Because mobile internet access speeds are normally slower than broadband speeds, the content for mobile sites has to be ’slimmed down’ to take this into consideration. As such, images are normally greatly reduced in size or removed completely.

The web page layout is also formatted so that it renders correctly. This means the mobile user does not have to scroll sideways to read the text.

In your question you made the reference to “normal websites”. Although websites that are designed for desktop and laptop viewing are ’seen’ as normal websites, very soon we will start to see more mobile users accessing the internet, and more often, than desktop and laptop users.

This will also cause mobile device manufacturers develop mobile devices with more advanced internet access and viewing capabilities.

Here is the part of the article about Sly Filter Going Mobile:

We have found that having a mobile version of our website, known as a ‘mobi’ version, means that our clients can access the main parts of our website directly from their mobile phone or PDA (or any mobile device that they use) so they no longer have to be at the desk or have a laptop with them.

You can read the rest of this article here.