Mike Pink’s Web ‘futurologist’ Ramblings

This was in response to an email sent out by our Head of Digital Innovation asking for some feedback to future proofing websites and cross-browser/platform compatibility.

Most websites should now be built using MCV (Model, Control, View) architecture.  The view layer is what is presented to the user on their browser, the control and model layers handle data and requests from the user.  This means that the view layer can be simply switched depending on the users device e.g. Browser specific, mobile or desktop etc dispensing the need to build multiple sites for every device.  Just compare http://www.mike-pink.co.uk on your mobile and on your desktop!

Also, sites need to think about multi language functions – again this can be done with most MCV website frameworks (populating aspects in the view templates with the desired language).

Companies should now be looking to incorporate HTML5 elements within their web sites and making cross browser and cross platform compatibility an essential part of the design.  HTML5 will enable users to view a variety of multimedia content without the need to download plugins such as Flash.  Flash doesn’t really handle “touch” and has been completely ignored by Apple on it’s iPad and iPhone products due to certain issues both technically and at business levels.

Mobile browsers should be presented with a stripped down version of the site, enabling them to quickly download pages/content and navigate to there desired content with as few steps as possible.

Ipad & touch screen users appreciate larger navigation options and button as small and fiddly text links are often hard to press correctly.

Personally I think in the not so distant future people will mostly use mobile apps to consume and find content – leaving websites as just online data services for these apps.  So product API’s and feeds are great for 3rd parties looking to pull information from your site and present it to users in a mobile or site mashups.