iPads, iPod Touches and iPhones – their effect on how you create websites.

March 18th, 2010 by James

The iPad

With the fairly recent launch of the Apple iPad you may be wondering if your site is ready for the hoards of dedicated apple fans who will inevitably appear before long wielding these giant silver iPods. We best not forget that, no-doubt soon after this plenty more technology companies will jump on the band wagon of this new genre of technology.

So how prepared is your site? Well test it in safari. The iPad uses a version of safari similar to the version used on your Windows PC or Mac. It has similar functionality and allows use of JavaScript, however…sorry it doesn’t support flash.

The screen resolution is 1027×786 which is perfect for most current web sites, so what effect could this have on your website?

Well in most ways it shouldn’t affect you. You can continue using html, css and javascript to create pretty and functional sites and don’t have to worry unless you intend to use large amounts of flash.

The iPod

Well this is where it gets a bit more difficult. With the iPod touch you have to think a bit more carefully about user experience. If you create an iPod site with a navigation bar which has 20 tiny buttons, the user will have difficulty clicking them separately with their finger or thumb. Contrary to what you may think, you actually have to leave more spacing and use relatively bigger navigational tools than you would on a regular site.

You also have to consider the orientation of the iPod. Being such a small device this can make a massive difference to how the site works. Separate CSS rules for the different orientations mean that you can ensure an optimum experience however the user prefers to browse.

Site Speed

iPod users may only be browsing over an EDGE connection, so it is worth optimising images, javascript, css etc for a slow connection. Using a gigantic header image when you could use a smaller better optimised image is just not a great idea. Minifying and compressing JavaScript and CSS is also a good idea as it retains its functionality but just results in smaller sites.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 18th, 2010 at 12:55 pm .

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