Why Design for Mobile?
It has become evident that more users are going mobile, and not just for on-the-go web browsing either. Tablet PCs have begun to change in context when users are online in the classroom. Designing for mobile is certainly a requirement in modern day web standards. The only problem is choosing your method of development, and targeting your audience appropriately.
When you start coding for specific screen resolutions you end up with too many stylesheets to deal with. Media queries in CSS3 can be used to build iPhone-specific layouts for both portrait and landscape view. Since you can predetermine the pixel density it's easy to revamp any HTML template for mobile.
But when you code a layout for responsive design the mobile aspects are taken care of by default. Both desktop and mobile users will be offered a similar experience and you won't need to worry about external CSS properties. The only research you'd need to perform is planning for the smallest possible display screen. Google Analytics traffic data can be very helpful for this.
You won't likely get your website working 100% on every single device running every browser. But you can target a majority based on the average width of the screen. Older iPhone models use a 320Ã--480 display resolution which isn't so unbelievable. I would shoot for a minimum width of 240px, or even smaller if you can fit it.
When you start coding for specific screen resolutions you end up with too many stylesheets to deal with. Media queries in CSS3 can be used to build iPhone-specific layouts for both portrait and landscape view. Since you can predetermine the pixel density it's easy to revamp any HTML template for mobile.
But when you code a layout for responsive design the mobile aspects are taken care of by default. Both desktop and mobile users will be offered a similar experience and you won't need to worry about external CSS properties. The only research you'd need to perform is planning for the smallest possible display screen. Google Analytics traffic data can be very helpful for this.
You won't likely get your website working 100% on every single device running every browser. But you can target a majority based on the average width of the screen. Older iPhone models use a 320Ã--480 display resolution which isn't so unbelievable. I would shoot for a minimum width of 240px, or even smaller if you can fit it.