I received a call from a client who expressed concern that their website wasn't functioning the same way on an iPad as it does on a computer. The first thing I did was look at the site on my iPad to see that a custom scroller used on the website was not visible on the iPad. It's a bit of a mystery to me, as the iPad uses the Safari browser, and when viewing this site using the Safari browser on a computer, it works fine. So how does one find out what differences there are between Safari on an iPad versus Safari on the computer? I'll have to get back to you on this one, as it is something I am still investigating.
But it brings up an interesting point: this client's website was built before the iPad even existed! This issue is not something we could have foreseen 3 years ago. It also reflects a trend in that more and more websites are being seen on devices other than computers, and websites that were built with special features to be seen on computers don't always translate well to mobile devices.
There is an organization called the W3C which is focusing on technologies to enable web access anywhere, anytime,
using any device. This includes web access from mobile phones and other
mobile devices as well as use of web technology in consumer electronics,
printers, interactive television, and even automobiles. But the truth is that at this point, not all browsers and device makers agree on or follow these standards, so we find differences in the web experience using the Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari browsers, and as yesterday proved, even differences between Safari on a computer and Safari on an iPad. It's a challenging time for programmers to make sites that function equally well in a maximum number of situations.
Four Story Design has long been focused on websites that are viewed on computers, but see that there's no way to avoid adapting to the ever-expanding range of devices that let us all see the web on the go. We'll be working on changing to meet these trends, so please bear with us.