Interesting post over at EverthingUX regarding what URL to pick for mobile usage. I have heard a lot and a lot of different approaches. However I personally think that there is no right or wrong. Some URLs are just too long to work for mobile, others are not. Some websites should probably rebrand for the mobile web, others are fine with an .mobi extension.
And yes…the Key stroke. Can we really now say that the Keystroke is still important?
Who knows? Below Everything UXs approach:
.mobi
Pros:
- It’s short and sweet and dodges the whole .com, .es, .org confusion.
- It’s pronounceable
Cons:
- It’s not a proper word, and what’s to stop people trying .mob, or .mobile?
.mobile
Pros:
- It’s a proper word so easy to spell AND pronounceable
Cons:
- It’s longer than average (com, net etc) so takes longer to type, -but at least predictive text could guess it.
- Maybe
Americans would want to type .cell and native speakers of every other
language their own cultural or linguistic equivalent.
www.m.
Pros:
- It’s slick and sexy, very web 2.0.
- It’s short
Cons:
- It
adds another full stop to the url, which can be a pain to type (did I
type a full stop or a comma? where was the punctuation button again?) - It can also increase cognitive load and confusion: Do I need to type the www. like in the old days? Did the “m” go before or after the “www.”?
Same url for desktop and mobile sites
Pros:
- The computer does the hard work. You connect from a mobile device, the page adapts accordingly.
- No extra memorising required on the part of the user.
- Greater confidence and security that the site really is the site in question, reduced concerns about phishing.
Cons:
- Doubts about whether the page you’re viewing has been adapted for mobile device. Is all the content here?
- There may be a delay in detecting the correct version (language, device etc)
- Takes
away choice from the user; it’s likely that the user will sometimes
want to read something they saw earlier that day at work for example.
.com/mobile
Pros:
- Intuitive,
matches the model of pretty urls considered best practice, although
it’s not strictly the same (it’s more of a microsite than a page)
Cons:
- The length
- Still have to remember the site’s domain
- Another forward slash
