Full browsers
From MobileDesign
Full browsers have as much or nearly as much standards and standard support as desktop browsers, but are still on mobile devices. Mobilized design still works great, but you can layer on deeper interactivity.
If, on the other hand, you are merely trying to make your desktop site work sufficiently okay on mobile browsers, then be sure that your page can be scanned easily when zoomed all the way out, and that the top left corner of the page is extremely useful with regards to identity and navigation.
Load time is important. Optimize everything. Get it done in under 8 seconds, hopefully under 3.
Build for more than one device. No device will be dominant. No, not even that one.
[edit] Scripting
Javascript support is variable. In particular, Script Events support vary from browser to browser.
Specific recommendations:
- provide a non-script version of the page, unless you really don't care about the majority of phones
- avoid getting fancy with DOM events: many devices will generate mouseenter, mousedown, click, mouseup, mouseleave with a single user click
- provide mouse equivalents of key events, as many devices don't support key events at all
- supplement mouse events with key events, as some very high end browsers are on devices without touch screens
- build a version of the page that works with server-side scripting
- beware of other script inconsistencies, though mostly that can be left to developers
- avoid using Javascript libraries. They have more stuff than you need, and thus add weight
- load parts of page where feasible. Both flickr and Google Reader load only the changed content
- optimize all Javascript for size: you still need to load in less than 8 seconds
External links:
flickr's lessons learned while building an iPhone site
