Going mobileFive steps to making research

compatible with mobile devices

www.youngdigital.net

1. Is it important

that your research

works with mobile

devices?

This depends on how much your target groups use mobile devices.

- Do your research participants have access to mobile devices?

-If so, which devices, and what do they use them for?

- If you have other target audiences, do they use mobile devices?

I mainly use my

Blackberry for

messaging friends.

My iPhone is too

slow for web

browsing.

I use my PC for web

browsing, and my

Blackberry for

Twitter and emails.

I have an Android

phone but I can’t

afford to use it much.

I take lots of

photos and videos

with my phone.

At home we have an

iPad, I use it for

internet and games.

My Windows phone is

great for music and

videos.

I use my phone for

everything!

2. Avoid using

technologies that

rely on Adobe Flash.

Adobe Flash is used for

animations, video and audio.

At the time of writing (2012),

Flash is not supported on many mobile devices (e.g. iPhone, iPad,

Android phones).

Adobe have stopped investing in

Flash for mobiles, so this trend

looks set to continue.

But which

websites use

Flash?If we listed all the

websites and services

that use Flash, by the

time you read this, the

information would

probably be out of

date.OK...so what am I

supposed to do?

You could also look at FAQs,

help files and tech blogs.

A web search for ‘does

X use Adobe Flash?’

can be helpful.

3. Use products that

have been designed

for mobiles.

Some examples…

- Mobile application software (‘apps’)

- Mobile website building services, e.g.

Zinadoo, Jaemobi, MoFuse

- Mobile plugins for blogs (e.g.

Wordpress.org has mobile plugins)

- Most of the ‘big name’ social media

sites are optimised for mobile web

browsers. Many also have apps that

add extra functions.

Social media apps add extra features

(e.g. uploading media), but users must

be willing to download the app. Also,

some apps are slow or badly designed.

Do you want to use such apps? Is it

realistic to expect your users to

download them? Are there some

apps they already use and like? Or do

you want to avoid using apps?

4. Design your

media to work in a

small format.

- Keep things short

- Use bold, simple designs

- Avoid unnecessary features

- Use tight, close-up framing in

photos and videos

- Avoid requiring users to

download files as this can be

slow – embed media instead

5. Test your

project for

mobile

compatibility

- Test using some mobile devices.

- Pay attention to load times - the

faster the better.

- If you don’t have a full range of

devices, there are simulators, e.g.

http://iphone4simulator.com

- mobiReady is a free service that

checks the mobile compatibility of

any website: http://mobiready.com

mobiReady

It’s best to test early in the

development process.

Now test this for mobile devices - with

your users if possible. If there are

problems, it’ll be easier to address

them at this early stage.

Make a quick, rough version, e.g. a

survey with 2-3 fake questions, a

30 second video, a blog with a few

random words/images.

This slideshow was created by

Dr. Michael Gallagher, University of

Glasgow, for Young Digital

www.youngdigital.net

Image credits: pierocksmysocks, via

deviantART