Mobile is NOT Web 2: On Interfaces, Usability and Bandwidth!
I just bumped across this interesting blog entry from Textually.org that summarizes the state of the Mobile Web. Basically, the issues boil down into two (2) main problems:
- Usability. The Mobile Web is rudimentary when it comes to Web site quality and ease of navigation. This first issue attacks the usability aspect of the mobile web. In a previous blog, I bring up and discussed some of the reasons the Mobile Web is limited. In the Internet days, this was also a major problem. Usability was also not that good. The typical early 1990 Internet user was a power user who was typically ex-BBSer, a computer professional or hobbyist. These are people who can work around the usability problems. Then, as usability improved, more and more non-power users began accepting the media. The key was sites, like Yahoo, E-Bay and the other dotcoms, that made the Internet interesting and easy to use for to the common people given the current limits of technology. The same thing is happening in the mobile web now. The typical users today are still the power users.
- Bandwidth. Don’t yet have access to faster 3G networks and affordable 3G handsets. This is the typical “there is not enough bandwidth reason”. This also affects the user experience. However, even in the early days of the Internet, there was also not enough bandwidth. With 14.4 kbps modems, bandwidth was really not in great abundance. Heck, the EDGE speeds we have right now blow that limit away. There was never enough bandwidth. Again, the solution in the old days was to adapt to the limitations. So some good web site design practices, like image size limitation, screen maximization and “anti-frames”, came into fashion.
I believe that we should not attack these problems by making the mobile web the same as the Internet web. I do not think that it would be prudent to invest too much resources trying to make the two different “Webs” work and play the same way. I strongly believe that the mobile web is unique. It has unique problems and requires unique solutions. Let us all admit that the user experience in the mobile world is different from the Internet world.
- Do not work around the handset. Work with the handset. Companies are trying to put features in the handset that mimic today’s Internet functionality. However, being a low functionality and limited interaction device, it is not easy to add these things into the mobile. PCs have far greater interactivity than mobile phones. What typically happens is that Internet features are added to the mobile phone but not used. Mobile is NOT Web. Application developer should think around the low interactivity. Every click and scroll in a mobile phone is a precious resource.
- Build interfaces for the mobile. Let us not try to put keyboards and mice into the mobile phone. Mobile is NOT Web. Alternative user interfaces must be designed. Some ideas on interesting and effective mobile interfaces can be taken from the Apple iPod wheel and the Blackberry Side Scroll. Definitely … Think out of the box!
- Build mobile applications and content for mobile interfaces. Similar to the point above but for content and applications. The initial phases of the mobile web will require content specifically suitable for the mobile world and not Internet world. Mobile is NOT Web. For example, creating a mobile search engine is just not just a matter of giving access to a mobile version of the “single bar search feature” of Yahoo or Google. People will still find these tools hard to use because typing is hard on the mobile. A different way of searching must be provided. Something more suitable for the mobile.
I believe the essence is to think about the mobile phone today and see what the device should look like in the future. Designs must take into consideration basic interface limitations of a mobile device: no full keyboard and no pointing device. Typing, scrolling and dragging are expensive tasks on a mobile. Other methods of user interfacing must be done. A new wave of innovation must hit the market. Something akin to Xerox PARC’s invention of mouse and graphical user interface. Komtotinkopit! There have been little user interface innovations with as significant an impact as the mouse and graphical user interface since then.
