As any Mac freak will know, Apple have rejuvenated their iPod range, including the new iPod Touch (and I defy anyone to say they would turn down one of these things). While the iPod nano has turned into a little fatty, the Touch is something else altogether. Somewhere between an iPod and an iPhone, it has a larger screen and wifi connectivity that makes browsing the web on a small device all that more attractive. Can the Touch finally make web browsing on something this small take off? What does this mean for design? Well, I think it means quite a bit in terms of making things work across massive desktop screens to the 3 and a half inches on the Touch. For those of us dragging the chain, it might be time to get serious about small-screen design. It also may open up a whole new area in app development.
Read more at Montreal Tech Watch.
Comments
The evidence says, yes, it's time to get serious about non-desktop web design. Opera Mini, for instance, has become quite big (ironically!), although it's yet to make a large impression in Australia. Also browsing on things like Wiis is becoming popular.
But as both the iPhone and Opera Mini show it's not always necessary to design especially for the mobile world, but it IS important to test that what you make works on a smaller screen. You might want to try out the Opera Mini simulator.
Posted by: Joel | September 6, 2007 03:15 PM
Sorry, I gave you the wrong simulator link. The new Mini 4 beta might be a better reflection on what to expect.
Still the usyd web site could do with improvement in this area, both in the zoomed-out full-screen view and in the fit-to-width view available with Mini.
Posted by: Joel | September 6, 2007 03:19 PM
I think you're right Joel, it really can't be ignored anymore.
Thanks for the simulator link. I had a play and it looks very interesting indeed.
Posted by: Georg | September 6, 2007 03:34 PM
I *adore* the new Nano. I also adore the iTouch iPod. I'm torn, really really torn.
Posted by: BK | September 6, 2007 04:24 PM
The boys over at Ajaxian have been posting regularly on the state of play in developing web apps for the iPhone, which has been churing along at a frantic pace:
http://ajaxian.com/by/topic/iphone/
I don't know of any iPhone simulators, however the rendering engine for the iPhone/iPod touch is the same as the one behind Safari 3.
Posted by: Andrew Jessup | September 13, 2007 06:10 PM