Mobile Web Problems

These two posts at Little Springs Design are great:

• What’s wrong with the mobile web (part 1)
• multiple windows versus multiple layers

Long term I’m a One Web person, but I’m also aware of the fact that The One Web is a long ways off. Perhaps a very long ways. And there are definitely problems that need to be fixed sooner than can be done by the major conceptual shift from distinct fixed and mobile websites to a single web environment. Those two articles do a great job of laying down at least one area, multitasking within the browser:

High-end phones (variously called “smart phones” and “PDA phones”, usually with an operating system like Symbian, Windows, or Palm) have rudimentary multi-tasking – but on an application level. Multiple browser tasks must become easy; switching between pages must become easy; split-window viewing must become possible.

Interesting point, and I think it really gets to the heart of why there’s a bunch of interest recently in widget sets for mobile devices. They’re one way to deal with the need to multitask on the small screen. Are they the right way? That remains to be seen. But some of the points laid down there might be good yardsticks for the capability of a widget interface. Some test like “does this help me with email processing” or “does this make following a tutorial easier” (both examples given in the second article) may be excellent metrics for determining if a widget set is starting to really push the edge of mobile interface out further or just adding a bit of chrome to the personal homepage.

Great stuff, definitely looking forward to more acticles in the series.