How To Test your Website on Mobile Devices

For the many unfortunate people who aren’t computer or digital social engineers, if you’ve only just managed to get up to date with what it takes to create and run your own business website, then I’ve got some bad news for you  you’re out of date again. Enter mobile web browsing, which means that the big names like Google are trying to turn your world upside down again.

Mobile web browsing is exploding in the same way that the internet itself did (and still is) in the early 2000’s and if you’re not adapting your business site to this, then pretty soon your hard work on finally producing a great site is going to end up being wasted. Many company owners are flat out refusing to accept that they’ll have to work on their site again and others are flailing for answers. With this in mind, here are some basic facts and solutions to get the ball rolling for you.

Firstly you have to remember that mobile phones (as advanced as they are) are not capable of the same feats as desktops. When planning your new site (or changes to your current one) it helps to keep these limitations in mind, like image sizing, embedded objects, frame usage and caching. Mobile browsers are connecting wireless and that means that connectivity is still not as solid as being plugged in, so be kind and make your site browser friendly by using things like structural mark-ups.

There are several ways you can do a quick scan of your site’s compatibility with mobile browsing. MobiReady is a site that offers a quick inspection of your website and gives you a pretty detailed report on its mobile compatibility. MobiReady does have something to sell, however, so bear that in mind before you burst into tears at the result and rather take it as a general guideline.

Some other useful tools include:

iPhoney

W3C mobileOK Checker

iPad Peek

Modify Headers Firefox Add-on

Adobe Device Central CS5

Gomez

DotMobi Emulator

Opera Mini Simulator

Here’s where you do some homework and go through these various links to examine the sites. All of them offer their own advantages but these are, without doubt, some of the best compatibility testing sites available. If you run your website through a few of these checks you’ll have a pretty good idea of how you’re doing and what you need to correct.

If you’re more internet savvy then you may well be able to make the necessary changes yourself but don’t feel too ashamed if you need to call someone in to tweak your site for mobile browsing, it happens to the best of us

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