Okay, I’m not a tech expert, but I do have quite a bit of UI Design and Usability experience, so my feedback here is not out in left field. But I hadn’t given this topic much thought until I got this Sidekick and started using a WAP device to browse the web.
Couple of things to think about, and I’m not even going to cover all the restrictions the browser has, I can only speak to the ones I’ve run into personally. When I say WAP, I’m referring to MY browser, and MY experience. But I am not alone.
1. Move your menus to the right. WAP parses tables in such a way that each column is shown one at a tome. Picture the navigation in a Yahoo news story with the menus of other news links going down the left edge…I have to scroll past all that (using a scroll wheel) before I get to the story I clicked on. VERY ANNOYING.
2. Images – don’t just resize them smaller using width tags, etc. WAP throws them in maxed back out. On at least 2 sites that have 5-6 images across the top of the page, I have to scroll down past all five of them in all their glory. Make real thumbnails.
3. Javascript = not supported. Especially frustrating when used to launch comments. If some of you stop hearing me, that’s why.
4. We don’t need a text-only page, images load, but load time is much slower than on my desktop, so the fewer images, etc. The better. Hey, maybe just consider a WAP skin…
5. Frames. Cannot view things in frames. I can click on a link to the files that make up the pages, but then I’m probably going to lose my navigation. Frames are probably 90% unnecessary in this time and date, so just dump them, fast.
6. Fixed widths. I have only written to one person about my WAP browser problems, and that’s because literally every word is pushed off the edge so far that I can’t read a single word. If you must format with tables and layers, don’t force widths that are going to make it impossible for me to read.
I could have included the names of sites that don’t display properly, but I didn’t think that would be nice. If you are concerned you’re on that list, leave a comment (don’t forget yor email address) and I’ll get back to you.
