Mobile web is an emerging area where businesses are venturing to tap in on the increasing user base and generate more revenue for themselves. However, one of the daunting problem for businesses who plan to establish their mobile websites is that there are no design standards specified for the mobile web. When in comes to designing websites that work efficiently on the mobile web, the ideas are still vague.

This is why the W3C intervened and made an effort to bring some order to the chaos by forming a Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group in 2005. And in 2008, this group released a Mobile Web Best Practices guide that lists 60 recommendations that will act as guiding principles for creating websites that will perform well on the mobile web.

Here are some of the best suggestions:

Thematic Consistency
Make sure that the content that users are provided when they click on a particular URL is the same when they access it from different devices. This would make up for a thematically coherent user experience.

Capabilities & Deficiencies
Analyze the various capabilities of mobile devices and consider the same while designing a mobile website so that you can aim to provide a rich user experience to your audiences. Also, it is important to understand the limitations of the mobile web and the mobile devices and take necessary steps to overcome them.

Navigation
The navigation system should be simple and minimalistic. Provide minimum number of options in the navigation menu on the top of the web page. Also, provide access keys to all the links in the navigation menu in order to make browsing easier for your visitors.

Links
Limit the number of links that you provide in your web pages. Remember that mobile web browsing is very different from desktop based web browsing and mobile web audiences do not really like to follow too many links to find what they are looking for. They are most likely to abandon the path midway. The target of the links should be clearly identified and make note of the format of the target file if you aren't sure if the mobile device supports them.

Avoid Pop-Ups
Pop-ups are annoying even in the desktop based web and it is more so in the mobile web as it seriously hampers usability and wrecks user experience. Therefore, avoid pop-ups and other windows that open up without informing the users beforehand. Another thing that you should avoid is using auto-refreshing web pages. If at all you do, make sure you inform the users as well as provide an option to turn them off.

Content
The content that your web pages contain should be suitable for use in the mobile context. Avoid using artsy language and keep your style clear and simplistic. Avoid overwhelming the visitors with content overload. Instead, provide them with just as much as they require. Remember, keep it short and crisp.

Web Pages
Divide the web pages into limited portions and make sure their size adheres to the memory limitations of the mobile device. Also, limit the scrolling to one direction only and try to avoid secondary scrolling as much as you can. If you need to use graphics and images make sure they can be rendered by the mobile devices. Instead of large high-resolution images, use small neat ones.


Maneet Puri heads a professional Web Development Company based in India.  He has significant expertise in various IT processes and guides his team of web developers to create SEO friendly web designs for their clients