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The iPad and what it means for web designers

Posted: February 3rd, 2010

It’s been a week now since Apple first unveiled their new iPad device. I discussed last week the subject of who it was intended for and why it would be a successful product. This week I’m going to examine what it will mean for web designers and developers and the potential impact it will have on our industry.

iPad changes everything?

This is the message that Apple were voicing at their conference last week. While they seemed committed to it, very few people expressed the same views. However, in a way it does change everything, in terms of mobile web, available anywhere. It’s already been reported that within a few years the most common way people will access on-line content and services will be through mobile devices. (read more about that here) There are a number of devices available right now that provide a better experience for certain on-line services than on the actual website (Twitter I’m looking at you). However, as good as these devices are for browsing the web anywhere, any time they all have one common limitation; the small screen size.

In my opinion the best mobile device for browsing the web right now is the iPhone. However, you still have to scroll around quite a bit on content-heavy sites and filling in forms is a nightmare. Not only do you have to scroll around the screen in order to see the fields, you also have to keep hiding and showing the keyboard and some forms just don’t work well because of this.

So size does matter?

Yes, for browsing the web size matters. The iPad has a 9.7″ screen, much larger than mobile phones. It is capable of displaying far more content on it’s screen and therefore provides a much better experience for web users. Take a look at the screens on Apple’s own website where the iPad is displaying the home page of the New York Times. It looks great.

It also has a much higher screen resolution of 1024 x 768. On a traditional PC this would be considered very low, on a portable device it’s amazing. Higher resolutions equal shaper images and text and better looking web pages. This level of detail on a single screen simply isn’t possible, at least not in a readable form anyway, on any phone.

Ok – I’m a web designer, how can iPad benefit me?

Well ok, this will take a bit of explaining. Firstly I believe that the iPad is going to be hugely successful for Apple. If it’s successful then a lot of people will buy it. This means there will be a lot of people browsing websites with it. When discussing projects with clients it’s another plus point for their on-line business because it’s another way for them to reach potential customers and make sales.

I’ve been mentioning the iPhone in sales pitches to clients for the last 12 months. I always take my iPhone into a meeting so that I can show them that sites we’ve written display correctly on the device. This usually impresses them as quite often they either have an iPhone themselves and have never thought about it’s impact on their online business, or they know someone who has an iPhone and suddenly they see the importance of having their site work well on a mobile device. The iPad will offer an even better experience on-line for the reasons I’ve already detailed above.

The real beauty of it is that because iPad uses the Safari browser we don’t need to make special CSS code for our sites to display correctly on it. It’s easy to show clients how good websites will look and how easy it is to use the device.

Ah, but the iPad doesn’t display Flash content

Completely true, it doesn’t. However, as a developer I always try to stay away from Flash as much as possible anyway. It’s buggy, it requires different plug-ins for different browsers and it’s not good for SEO. Usually if a client wants to achieve something in Flash I can get the same result for them using JQuery coding. Also, HTML5 is on the way, and embedding video content directly into a web page (something that Flash is currently used for a lot) will be a breeze and will not require any plug-ins at all. After that I don’t see much of a future for Flash in the majority of business websites, apart from dedicated applications and games.

In conclusion then – iPad offers a lot for web designers

So, after all that let’s summarise what the iPad will offer for us as web designers and developers:-

  • A great way to display websites on a mobile device without any CSS special coding
  • An extra way we can sell our design services to clients
  • A richer browsing experience
  • A sales tool – “yes, we can make your site look great on the iPad so you can reach more people
  • It may also be a really nice way of presenting a sales pitch to your clients – no more bulky laptop in the meeting room, just plug-in to a projector and go
  • It shows clients that you’re aware of the latest technologies and are keeping up with changes in the industry to provide them with the best possible service

Written by Ian Hazeldine, Managing Director of Yellow Circle Web Solutions Limited

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Ipad – Who it’s really intended for & why it’s going to succeed

Posted: January 28th, 2010

Yesterday Apple finally unveiled their tablet PC called the iPad to the world and it was met with (mostly) negative feedback. After watching their conference it suddenly became clear who they were aiming the product at. Something I think the majority of people have missed. Read on…

I’ve got an iPhone

I use my iPhone everyday. It’s my device of choice for quickly checking on-line content, reading RSS feeds, listening to music and posting messages, links and pictures on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Yes, my iPhone is a gadget I could not live without. The iPad doesn’t do anything major that my iPhone can’t do except present me with a bigger screen. This is the thinking of almost all website writers who have posted their opinions on the new device. However, I think they may have all missed the point.

So come on then – Who is iPad for?

A few years ago Nintendo released the Wii. A console that is still outselling it’s competitors every single month. The Wii doesn’t do as much as the Xbox 360 or PS3, yet it still dominates sales. This is because Nintendo made a console that non-gamers could use and enjoy just as much as traditional gaming fans could. It was removing the barrier of entry (the controller and interface) that has made the Wii so simple to use and so popular as a mainstream device, not just as a gaming machine.

iPhone – Ok, so what about the iPad. Apple said it fits in somewhere between an iPhone and a Macbook laptop. iPhones have a small screen, and whilst you can browse the web on them in a much better way than on most other mobile devices it’s still only on a small screen. The browsing experience isn’t as good as viewing content on a laptop or desktop PC.

Laptops – A laptop such as the Macbook is an awesome piece of kit. However, it needs to be operated in a traditional way i.e. with a mouse/keyboard. Users need to learn how to use Mac OSx. They need to know how to apply updates, install software, manage their disk space, back up data and lots more. This presents a barrier of entry to non-technical users.

iPad and who it’s really for

This is the point where we finally begin to see who the iPad is for. It will be a more mainstream device than a dedicated PC or Phone. It will be for all those non-technical people that don’t know how to use a laptop/desktop, but want to carry videos, books and music around with them.

A real-world example
Recently my mother in-law had a play around with my wife’s iPod Touch. She loved it, she told me it was so simple to use because you just touched the screen to operate it. She’s not technical at all, she’s constantly asking us for help with things on her mobile phone, but she was able to pick up and operate the iPod Touch without having to provide instructions.

She also uses the internet on a desktop PC. She gets by surfing the sites she knows about, but doesn’t really venture further. With a device like iPad she would find browsing the web, viewing pictures and videos on-line a lot easier because all you have to do is touch the screen.

Apple have created a device that can be used by non-technical people just as well as it can by technical people. It’s true that it doesn’t provide any major new features that can’t already be done on other Apple devices. It’s also true that it’s lack of multi-tasking and a camera are omissions that have been highlighted by the technical writers online a lot. However, to the people this device is primarily aimed at that won’t matter. They won’t even know what multi-tasking is. They will simply have a device that just works and does what they want it to do.

It’s a brilliant move. I’ve read more than once from many ‘experts’ that the iPad will be a flop, that it has no place or no real use. That’s because they’re looking at it from their own point of view and not looking at everyone else in the world that doesn’t possess the technical knowledge they have.

Final Thoughts

I too was unconvinced at first about it’s place in the market, having thought about it though I was compelled to write this article. Mainstream is where the device is heading, and that, as we’ve seen from Nintendo, does not equal failure.

Article written by Ian Hazeldine, Managing Director of Yellow Circle Web Solutions Limited

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