A guest post by Isabella Woods

In the past, it was easier to set up a website because you didn’t need to consider the many options for viewing it that exist today. You did have to take into account the size of monitors people might use, but you certainly didn’t envisage that people would use a two inch screen on their phone to view your brand new website. Viral marketing has made this even more of an issue for website design – ideas and brands are being sent around social networks on the basis that they can be experienced immediately.

Not only do people use their phones (now thankfully with larger screens) to view your website and place orders, but iPad, tablet computer and Kindle users are checking out websites with increasingly available of Wi-Fi all over the country; in fact, all over the world.

Quality Service Viewers expect the same quality of service from your website however they choose to look at it. They might use their 52 inch television (internet television) to see what stock you are holding of that special Christmas present they plan to get. They might pass a store offering a deal on a book and need to check via their iPhone whether you have the book in stock at a lower price.

If your website designer doesn’t mention the different ways in which people might view your website, then move on to the next website design company because your first choice isn’t keeping up with current trends. That means there’s a chance they will probably miss the next big change to the internet, whatever that is.

Your designer may inform you that you need a cascading style sheet (CSS) attached to your website. It sends specific details to the mobile browser that enables it to read your website properly.

Browsing Features – Limited or Expanded?

Browsing features are expanding all the time as more people use smart phones and Android phones and tablets. This makes viewing the website similar to seeing it on a home based PC or Mac; just smaller.

For those still viewing online via a small screen with a basic web browser, your designer should consider font selection. This should be basic with images stripped out for mobile viewing where possible. You don’t need advertising on small browsers so forget your Facebook link or anything similar.

Avoid background colors and try making text black on a white background; it works well. Flash and Java and any plug-ins won’t work well on a small screen so avoid them if you can.

The main item to consider is simplicity. The simpler you keep your website the easier small screen viewers will be able to see it. You have the option of using one of the WordPress themes designed especially to be small screen friendly.

Testing

The final hurdle is to test your website on the various browsers and different types of screens. A while back you only had to test on Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Opera. Now you will need to run tests for Opera Mini. The iPhone simulator iPhoney is good for the Apple brands. It is also good for you to try a few friends’ phones to check for compatibility. You just never know how each different brand of phone will react to your website coding. With so many different branded versions of the Android system available in the near future, you may not just be able to design for Android generally and expect the browser to work properly. Test as many variations as you can.

Word-of-mouth is also a good way to test your website. Your friends will hopefully test your website for you and they will send it on to their friends to try it out as well, asking them to report back to you. In a short time you should be able to test your design across all the browsers and different ways of displaying your website before you go live.