Mobile Browsing - Analysis
Introduction
A full day of just mobile? Can I survive?! That's what I thought when I first heard about this assignnment. Brother Thompson asked us to go a full 24 hours only browsing on our mobile phone (I happen to have Moto G, which I'm very proud about), and then record and share our findings and opinions of the mobile wesites we came visited. This web page is where I will share what I learned from this activity.
Questions to consider:
- Can you still see what you want to see?
- Can you find what you're looking for?
- Can you do what you want to do?
- Any frustrations?
- Anything work better on the small screen?
Findings
Can you still see what you want to see?
Yes, on www.howtogeek.com I could see what I wanted to and get the correct information; at least, I could when I wasn't accidently clicking on their adds... But aside from the couple of adds, the information was very systematic. I used to the website to troubleshoot my computer and I was reading the article step by step. The mobile actually really aided this because I didn't get distracted by much else while I focused on each step and accompaning diagram.
Can you find what you're looking for?
www.tomshardware.com : No, I definitely did not find what I was looking for. I previously looked up a website on my laptop and I figured I would just use the search bar and find it on mobile, but I just couldn't seem to find what i was looking for! The search bar on mobile didn't seem to work the same way as it does on my PC. Instead of searching the tomsharware website, only brought up advertizements for other sites that I ended up clicking on! I still haven't found the right webpage.
Can you do what you want to do?
I felt like in general I was able to, but I craved my laptop the whole time. For me, the only time I prefer mobile is when I'm out and I don't have my laptop handy, or when I'm in bed at night, before I fall asleep. Pretty much all the same information was there, but the layout is just not as visually apealing. They have to cram so much information onto such a small screen it's not near as effective as the desktop friendly versions.
Any frustrations?
Frustrations, oh yes. Facebook. Let's be real here. I just want to view my messages on the web broswer. That's why I was was in the browser in the first place and not using the Facebook App. Facebook does not let the user view his/her messages online, but sends you to the google play store to download "Facebook Messseger!" I don't want to download Facebook Messager, I just want to view my unread message from my brother!!! I didn't have enough unused memory on my phone so I was forced to delete a couple apps just so I could download the stupi app. Very frustrating!!!
Anything work better on the small screen?
Actually, there was a benefit to the lds.org mobile site. Although it wasn't as pretty, I found myself scrolling down through the picture headings just to see what was there. I know from experience that I hardly even glance at the pictures and articles on the home page when I visit the site on my PC.
Summary
I learned that there are most likely many people who only browse on their mobile device, which means that the website and the layout must be very convient and mobile friendly the develpers want people to return to that site. I found myself being tempted to just get on my laptop and search around for the same information because the mobile sites were so frustrating. I don't consider myself someone who gets hooked by internet things, but I found that the images that the sites used and the way they portrayed them on the mobile site was key in piquing my interest. Lds.org, for example, had some very-well taking images right under the navigation and search bar. I went to the site to use the navigation bar to read some scriptures, but I found myself mindlessly scrolling through the pictures and reaing the headlines. This taught me that it's important to give the reader something visually stimulating form the get-go, but you can't give them too much. You want them to scroll through and click on things to satiate their curiosity. The bottom line is that for a moible site to be effective, it must have the correct information, be easy to navigate, and encourage people to scroll through well-placed, agreeable images.