Comments on: Please Stop Making iPhone Specific Web Sites!

By: Ken Gillespie

Ken Gillespie — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 22:26:50 +0000

You are all missing the point. We should have a choice. Some sites are better in the mobile version. Other sites are crippled. Try billingmanager.com. Sign up for free and then login on your iphone. It makes you want to smash your phone. We pay a lot of money for a phone and plan. Why frustrate us to no end. At least Google has it right, They give you a choice on their website.

By: Valerii

Valerii — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:06:20 +0000

I could understand your negative feelings about iPhone-oriented versions of web-sites. But, let’s think not only about disadvantages of these specific versions.
I see next advantages:
- faster rendering
- comfortable interface, designed for your screen/pointing device
- operations with phone book: originating call, adding phones to phone book
- GPS-oriented services

But, i agree, that it’s absolutely unfair, to make just redirect to mobile version of site, even user is willing to visit web-version. There should be smart redirect with options for user.
So, developing of mobile version of site (even for iPhone) must use benefits of these device, and make it more comfortable for end user,

By: Renate

Renate — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:02:36 +0000

Help. I can’t even open m.facebook from the @@&$$&@&$ iPhone.facebook site. It just goes straight back there. It is so frustrating. The iPhone site does not even display my status correctly. Is there an app that can stop this stupid default to iPhone sites ? Can somebody please write one ?

By: Benjamin Tubb

Benjamin Tubb — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 03:57:05 +0000

I just think there should be an option on the iphone, to say “Don’t go to mobile versions of sites”. Some sort of option that would stop broadcasting whatever it is that allows the sites to identify you as a mobile device. I agree that the sites have their place, but some people, like me, don’t want them.

Or maybe whenever you go to a site for the first time, a box should pop up: “Do you want to view the mobile version of this site from now on?” And you can set your preferences on a site-by-site basis. That’d be nice.

By: Chris Papadopoulos

Chris Papadopoulos — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:04:05 +0000

Some websites have so many images and render so slowly on mobile devices that mobile specific devices are necessary for a semi-sane user-experience. Ideally, all websites would be simple and lightweight in the first place, but we live in a dumb world.

The worst part about mobile sites is that some of them don’t redirect you to the mobile version of the page you were trying to visit, but some sort of mobile homepage. So you have to go through their menus and try and find the original page you were looking for.

By: oli young

oli young — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:33:55 +0000

I disagree completely. The iPhone isn’t a laptop, it’s a much smaller screen, with much more cumbersome controls (a finger v a mouse), it’s slower (both to render and to retrieve) and it serves an entirely different purpose, I browse the web on my laptop, I’m task oriented on my iPhone.

Take for example, Australian news site news.com.au, the web version is a standard, run-of-the-mill news site, headline articles and imagery, ads, interaction etc, the iPhone version (http://iphone.news.com.au/) however is elegant, directed and purposeful, a simple list of articles which uses the iPhone’s card stack to quickly load and navigate through stories much quicker than hitting the full web version.

I’ll admit that every iPhone version should offer the the opportunity to view the full version, but tailoring your view of the web site dependent on the agent you’re using to access it is entirely appropriate

By: David Sinclair

David Sinclair — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:13:48 +0000

I would argue the other way. I think that iPhone-optimized sites make a lot of sense, when done well. Sure, MobileSafari does a good job of viewing normal websites, but a well-done iPhone-optimized site is much more pleasant to navigate.

I wrote about this from a user perspective on my blog back in January:

http://www.dejal.com/blog/2009/01/dejal-site-now-iphone-optimized

And from a developer perspective this month, including code on how to include a checkbox on pages to disable the iPhone optimization — which remembers the state via cookies, so you don’t have to disable it each time if you prefer non-optimized:

http://www.dejal.com/blog/2009/04/developers-should-iphone-optimize-their-sites

By: Stephen Celis

Stephen Celis — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:36:26 +0000

While I agree that some mobile sites are harrowing the browsing experience with botched versions, iPhone-specific sites have their place when done well.

The iPhone is still slow (even over wi-fi), so eliminating the JS and CSS bloat that supports every browser since IE 5.5 is one reason to write an iPhone-specific site. Taking advantage of HTML5, CSS3, etc., to provide a superior experience to the desktop is another.

And while I usually have complains about the Google user experience, I think they’ve done a pretty good job with the latest version of Gmail and Reader, both of which are much less usable on the iPhone in their normal state.

By: Ben Johnson

Ben Johnson — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:07:06 +0000

I agree, and safari on iphone is only going to get better, which should make iphone interfaces less useful. I think more than anything it’s a wow feature and makes the site feel more “ahead of the times”, which I’m not sure warrants an entirely new interface.

By: Daniel Tenner

Daniel Tenner — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:42:01 +0000

I agree with the sentiment.

With respect to Facebook, however, I’d suggest using one of the facebook AppStore apps… they’re better than just going through the website, imho.

Daniel