"Web Browsing through Handheld Media"

Mobiles, PDAs, Palm Tops etc. have been described as the future access devices for the Web browsing. In next few years’ time, there will be more people accessing the Internet via mobile devices than via conventional PCs.

Here is an interesting snippet. Japan had a higher number of mobile internet users than those who used PC to access the web in 2005. According to a white paper by the Japanese government, at the end of 2005, there were 69.2 million people using the Internet from mobile devices, compared to 66 million conventional PC users. The Ministry of Information and Communications' annual "Information and Communications in Japan" white paper said, of these two user groups, 48.6 million use both a mobile device and a conventional PC. This takes Japan total Internet population to 85.3 million users - essentially two in every three people in the country.

In the recent years web is being used for more serious business applications. Mr. Avinash (Manager - Corporate Communication DLF Group) needs access to his official mails anytime and anywhere and feel mobiles and PDAs are good mediums. It is small and easy to carry. WAP sites can serve the information purpose better than conventional PC web access.

In the changing scenario can we depend on conventional ways to access web? Big Giants like Google, Yahoo! are developing their WAP strength to facilitate the users. Do companies restricting themselves to specific mediums can grow further?

-- Thanks, Akash Srivastava

Usability.... Waste or Important?

In the era where technologies are seeking new comforts for consumers/users. Is it worthwhile to design a product without keeping in mind user's acceptance? Is the poorly designed interfaces are the reason why so many products are never used? Will the poorly designed products have any future?

Mr. Gaurav Awasthi, Mass Communication student says - While surfing few shopping and job sites he had a terrible experience to locate the relevant links to manage his account. Are these sites designed in accordance to user's skills, experience and expectations?

The competition is growing rapidly and users are getting more and more options everyday. So in this scenario will the companies giving least priority to user experience can have a wider reach?

Few important factors should be taken care of while designing a new product-

• User has limited short term memory
• User are prone to commit mistakes with complex designs
• Different users have different capabilities and skillsets
  
• Users have different preferences and requirements
  
• There should be minimal surprises for user while using a product
• How the information should be served to users

Some suggestion should be taken care while designing-

• UI design process should involve user analysis, system prototype and evaluation.
• UI prototyping should be a staged process with early paper prototypes.
• Colours should be used sparingly maintaining the consistency.

" If Functionality is what technology do, then INTERFACE is how user interacts with it."

- Thanks, Akash Srivastava