MNteractive

Using a phone to write to a blog has its limitations, such as punctuation! Form fields do not recognize such minor and unimportant little things like apostrophes. Eh. I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t just get along without ‘em? Oh. I used 3 in that last sentence alone. Hmmm…

Still tho, I see the use of smart phones and wireless PDAs on the rise. I predict that the use of these devices will not only be used for surfing, but for editing/updating Web sites in great numbers and in short order. What do people want from the Web more than anything else? Information. You can make a site as beautiful as a Monet, but if you have no content for people what is their incentive to come back? Why should they stop by more than their initial visit?

The Web is all about the free flow of information, period. Make it look as pretty or as ugly as you want, if you have the information that people are interested in, they will come back. If you do it properly, like this blog, people can access it, easily access it, from any modern, or for that matter antiquated, device. You can view this site perfectly using Mosaic, the first ever Web browser developed by NCSA, or from a smart phone, like my own Samsung i500. If you hate the way CMBDG looks on your modern browser, view the RSS feed on your trusty news reader, formatted any way you want.

What is the one way people cannot access information on a site thru every device? Flash. Yep, that’s right, Flash. Yet another reason I do not use Flash for my work. Is it pretty? Sure, it can be. Is it cool? No doubt! When used properly can it wow your audience? Oh my god yes! Does it have its place? Without a doubt! Should it be used for blogging or any other kind of News site? Emphatically NO! And it is for the reason I previously stated here; “If you do it properly, like this blog, people can access it, easily access it, from any modern, or for that matter antiquated, device.” Properly is the key word here. The use of Flash for this purpose is not “proper”.

So as I was saying, the use of wireless PDAs and smart phones is undoubtedly going to go up. They are so convenient, especially the smart phones. In one device, the same size as most small, modern mobile phones (my phone is truly small, for any mobile phone, yet alone for one that runs Palm too!), smart phones pack the punch of being your organizer too. No longer a need to have a mobile phone and an organizer too. What a space and time saver.

People have, of course, used wireless PDAs and smart phones to access information online, send emails to one another, etc. But with the convenience of being able to add content to a Web site I can see these devices evolving to be much more than they are now. Like perhaps incorporating XHTML/CSS in their capabilities list (right now these devices do not understand anything other than the old, antiquated, HTML 3.2 spec). I am not saying, or suggesting, these phones be able to decipher/use complex dHTML/CSS layout, but perhaps some of the CSS1 spec, like colors, text attributes, that sort of thing.

Right now there is but a handful of applications that can be used for true HTML editing and FTP on a Palm device (I am sure there is more than this for the Windows CE platform, but I really don’t give a shit about CE or Pocket PC’s, or whatever). I see this segment getting larger, as I am sure more and more people will use these devices for just this purpose. It is just too convenient not too! You get ALL of the information you would from any desktop computer, save for the fancy-schmancy design.

Hey, I am a designer. I like people to see what I want them to see, but I am also a realist. People want the answers to their questions when they want the answers, not when someone else decides. If they can get those answers using a wireless PDA/smart phone when they either don’t have a laptop or if it is too inconvenient to pull it out, turn it on, etc., then they will. And they won’t care that it is coming to them in plain text without fancy design; all they will care about is that they got the information when THEY wanted it. Period. They will carry this experience with them, remembering it fondly; “Hey! I got that information when I wanted it! It was easy to parse thru and I didn’t need my big, heavy, slow laptop to get it either! Sweet!!” And if it could be formatted and presented similarly to a browser on a laptop/desktop computer? Well, all the better.

And for the people that want or need to get a critical update to their site when the only way to do it is thru the use of a smart phone, well, that is beyond convenience. That could be the difference between keeping a job, or losing one. Staying ahead of “the race”, or falling behind. Making a profit, or losing money. These little devices are amazing now. Wait a year or two, which is an eternity in this fast-paced world of the Web, I know, but wait a year or two and so many people will be using them for this stuff it will make you wonder what we did before them?

Do you remember what is what like before EVERYONE had a mobile phone? How did you get by without being able to call in a restaurant reservation while driving? Or calling for a tow when your car broke down? Or when you and your friend(s) were in a crowded bar, or IKEA, and you got separated from them and did not know how to find them again? What did you do then? Hard to imagine, right? Someday people will ask the same thing about this. “How did you update your site, at a moments notice, when you were on the beach before? You didn’t? Wow! Regale me with what life was like back in the olden days!”