12th Oct 2011, 02:32 AM | #1 |
Bogdan Anastasiei War Room Member Join Date: 2008 Location: Romania
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Here's the issue I want to raise... I noticed that some mobile website designers use images (buttons) in the navigation section. Those buttons are good looking, but as far as I know a lot of mobile surfers turn off the image loading. I know I do - I only have 300 megs per month in my basic subscription, so if I navigated with the images "on", the phone bill would kill me. :-) So a visitor who turned off the images cannot see any navigation options at all. Given that, isn't it safer to use text (embellished with some css, of course) in the navigation menu? If the company logo does not show, that's not a tragedy, but if the navigation buttons don't show, the visitor is lost. Thoughts? |
12th Oct 2011, 05:38 AM | #2 |
Digital Marketer War Room Member Join Date: 2010 Location: Australia
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Good point, I agree. You should always try and use CSS instead of images where possible. Not only is it going to load faster but as you mentioned, there are still a lot of people who browse with images turned off due to the speed and download limits of their mobile connection. I don't think many mobile website developers realize this. Sometimes the user experience loses out due to the ego of the person designing the site. |
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12th Oct 2011, 06:31 AM | #3 |
HyperActive Warrior Join Date: 2011 Location: North West, England
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This may be more of an issue for certain countries and regions. I know that now in the UK, unlimited bandwith options are common and cheap. I see the OP is from Romania, so in these countries with the less established infrastructures this issues are more prevalent. That's not to say people in countries such as the UK should be filling their mobile sites with images. A mobile site is ultimate supposed to be simple but quick in order for the user to get what they want easily.
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12th Oct 2011, 06:33 AM | #4 |
I Do Voice Over Work War Room Member Join Date: 2011 Location: Oregon
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If images are used for buttons...... would placing an <alt> tag with them with, "click here to go to.....", work? That way if the user does have images turned off, the link would still show (via text)?
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12th Oct 2011, 06:37 AM | #5 | |
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I might be wrong but I know through my own designs if ever images are used in the actual design of the site, the best practice is to call them in the css file rather than the standard html. | |
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12th Oct 2011, 07:03 AM | #6 | |
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12th Oct 2011, 06:44 PM | #7 | |
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13th Oct 2011, 03:45 AM | #8 |
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This is an interesting point. I mainly use images as buttons because i like to put a little bit of a gradient in there and i don't know how to do a gradient with css3. I know it can be done but i don't know how to do it. WillR im not sure if i have asked you this before but in you WSO do you go into any detail on how to do gradients with css3?
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13th Oct 2011, 04:08 AM | #9 | |
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13th Oct 2011, 09:06 AM | #10 | |
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I'm using an Android phone with the default browser, so maybe a different browser would work....but I wouldn't trust it. Mike | |
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13th Oct 2011, 11:49 AM | #11 |
You reap what you sow. War Room Member Join Date: 2008 Location: Sometimes you don't.
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Most designers design mobile sites as if they are designing for the desktop. That's because they have no idea about what is good and what is bad in mobile design. There are lots of resources about mobile best practices out there and all of them recommend using minimal images. CSS is more than enough for creating nice buttons.
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13th Oct 2011, 02:04 PM | #12 |
Mobile+WP = JumpMobi.com War Room Member Join Date: 2009 Location: San Antonio, Tx
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perfect example of why i use user agent detection for more than just detect and redirect i never use a full button as a graphical image but will style it using css and i will use a graphical icon as part of the button using css or css sprites, i may choose to use gradients too however dependent on the useragent i will choose to display or not display the icons, or the gradients by using dynamic css style sheets i am a big believer that user agent detection should be used for more than just detect and redirect, if used properly it can be very powerful and can vastly improve the end user experience... and isn't that what mobile is all about? I know some people are knocking out simple and quick mobile sites and the budget doesn't allow for those type of features but that's why if you look at the bigger picture you can get much higher $$$ for what you do, its also what separates you from the rest of the crowd too |
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13th Oct 2011, 02:21 PM | #13 |
Stay Hungry-Stay Foolish War Room Member Join Date: 2010 Location: Location, Location...
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This is a great and seemingly overlooked point about mobile GUI - how much is too much? It has to look "flashy" without using flash -and images to attract the viewer... but would there be a way to program a "default to text" in the event the phone has image turned off?...the way a mobile phone recognizes a mobile site from a regular one? Btw: as always, thanks for the above Jay & Will - is there a good site I can study up on agent detectection more? and what options I have when building? Androids sold twice as many iphones in recent months...but a catch all is always the way to go... |
13th Oct 2011, 02:55 PM | #14 |
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With people jumping on 4G these days and phones with double processors, I really can't see where you would need to worry about images or not. However, I understand that people are still either on or purchasing mobiles with 3G. I firmly believe if you keep 'minimal' in mind and just get to the point, it'll be more than just fast enough. At least with a good minimal design, you'll be faster than what they already have. I have a client that I called last week and asked how everything was, and she said great. She mentioned that her mobile was faster than it use to be as if she was on 4G.
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15th Oct 2011, 03:09 AM | #15 | |
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I don't suppose you teach how you build your mobile sites? Sure sounds like something i would like to learn. | |
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