Hallo! (German for hello, big leap I know.)
I read 10-20 articles and watch even more videos about, not only the tech industry (from the hobbyist perspective) but also web development and design each and every day. I see a lot of beautiful graphics to lure me in, as well as, bright bold colors to keep my attention. Now, this is actually beneficial for me, as I’m usually reading an article while watching one or two videos at the same time. Bad.
That being said, a headline like the following overriding grabs my attention more than any fancy ornament or clicky 2D button; Tablet shipments are now more than half that of the PC (source). What? This isn’t 2014 or 2015 like most of analysts have been saying since the inception of the iPad. The 2014 timetable was intimidating enough as a web developer, but it seems that tablets and smartphones have been so popular, not even the most conservative forecasts came close.
The reason I bring up this point, perhaps not for the first time to you, is to make it crystal castles clear that ‘we’ need to realize that time is now. People are viewing your website now on tablets, not whimsically in a few years. I remember vividly talking to a client about the impending impact of the iPad (the only tablet on the market at the time). I was so proud because little did they know that I had already prepared and coded their website to work on the iPad. To my dismay, when I showed the website on the iPad, their reaction was, “those (tablets devices) are just for kids”, and quickly moved on to their want for a completely flash-based (non-tablet supported) website.
That event has stayed in the back of my mind ever since. I always felt confident in my advice, and development decisions and focus on future website planning regardless of public misconceptions of technology. What I would have never guessed was that the whole tablet revolution would be adapted even quicker than I imagined.
In a future post, I will elaborate more on this with solutions such as responsive web design, which I am fully embracing for future projects. While responsive web design is not an end-all solution, it may be the most affordable solution to cover not only the desktop but also all tablets and smartphones in one swoop. Or should I say swipe? Either way, something to think about much more carefully for your next website or redesign.
