A Perspective on Entrepreneurship, Technology & Locative Dynamics

With the release of iTunes 7.7 you can browse through the new iPhone application store which presents more than 500 free and commercial iPhone applications.

With the announcement of the iPhone everyone was happy to have a large screen (480×320 Pixels) that makes it possible to easily access and use mobile applications and web sites. Thus, the iPhone brought mobile applications to the main stream and more and more application developers are recognizing the potential of the mobile web and change their focus from web to mobile.

Extending your web applications to become mobile aware can be done in several ways. Adapting your design or stylesheets to become better accessible with mobile browsers like Opera Mini or Safari is one way. Completely restructuring your content and creating a separate mobile web application or a native mobile application another way. The latter provides the advantages of a better support for the target platform and its characteristics. For example, it is now easier to access standard web pages with your iPhone but for a better ease of use and usability a reorganization of content elements is necessary because the screen size limitations are inherited in the mobile world and require adaptions. To conclude, developing separate mobile applications should be the preferred way, although a lot more effort is required for the implementation.

Going through the iPhone app store I recognized that there are no standard ways of designing an application. Presenting a consistent feeling like in the desktop world is hardly achievable. To get some impressions I created some iPhone application screenshots that show a variety of possibilities to present your web application on the iPhone.

What are the best practices for iPhone applications?

• Present your logo at the top of the application on every screen?
• A search icon at the top right next to the logo? A search bar at the top in the standard Apple style?
• Main navigation at the bottom with text and icon?
• Content items in a vertical list form with arrows at the right pointing to more details?
• A horizontal simplified navigation?
• Wisely chosen default values and an advanced settings section to make adjustments?
• Using standard iPhone design elements? E. g. iUI tries to simulate it.
• Simplified content elements, one column, avoid scrolling?
• Avoid borders surrounding content?
• Content overlays for full screen maps?
• Sign in, log in, log out, profile links at the top right?

Of course, all web applications are different and mobile applications can be different too but facilitating standard methods of designing an application and using typical layouts can provide a consistent feeling between applications on the target platform. This makes your users happier, too.