Mobile is already a key platform for any modern website. Being able to use a website on any device, whether it is a desktop, tablet or phone is important as this is what users and as such customers expect from a website.
deviantART as it stands on both mobile versions, beta and non-beta, is barely usable, most users end up switching the mobile site off as it is not designed correctly for mobile.
Mobile Web
A mobile website is still important even in the age of native apps, if a user wants to quickly check a site out but not download an app for it, they expect your site to be usable on a mobile device, if it isn't they will just move onto the next site. Creating a great mobile website is not hard, it just takes time to do.
The current mobile site that is beta has fundamental flaws that need to be addressed for it to be usable, let alone great.
Tap Targets
The tap targets on the mobile site are simply the same as the desktop site, honestly unless your fingers are absolutely tiny, you will never be able to hit them without pecking at the screen for at least 5 seconds and even then you might not hit it.
A tap target needs to be a minimum of 44pts in at least one dimension to be usable on a touch screen, see the Human Interface Guidelines by Apple for more (link).
No user will try to use a site where they can't hit a button, for example the message center on the new Mobile site, it uses the same deviation styles as the desktop, the tiny delete button is simply unable to be tapped it seems. One in ten taps may hit it for me personally, other users have the same experiences and get frustrated at the size of the tap targets on this button and many others on the site.
Another example of badly sized tap targets is on a user page, the tabs to switch between profile, gallery, journals and others are impossibly small, sure it is saving space, but its not exactly the best user experience.
Menu options within the Message Center also have this same problem, they are simply too small to tap reliably.
Data Usage
On mobile, data is still expensive, therefore lowering data usage is needed, mobile devices s do not have the bandwidth or the capabilities of a laptop or desktop. Currently the new mobile site sends the exact same amount of data to the user as the full desktop does, this isn't what a user wants.
Lowering the usage that the site takes on a users data limit is needed, I understand dA is a image heavy site, but still things can be done to lower the toll the site takes on a users data.
Mobile Apps
Why does deviantART have no apps? Your current infrastructure supports apps just fine, dA Messages is using the same internal APIs as Message Center does itself. If you control the app, you control where it pulls the data from, so if the data source changes, you can modify the app.
Apps are what users want, a mobile site is only one step in the right direction. Creating both Android and iOS apps is a key strategy deviantART should be pursuing especially apps for tablets such as the Nexus 7 and iPad which are creating for consumption of media such as that which deviantART provides.
Creating mobile apps could also open up the userbase to people who wish to view the images that deviantART provides on their couch without a laptop. A person who would never use deviantART could be flicking through images on their couch in a beautifully designed deviantART iPad app, sharing images with their friends and then signing up to deviantART to favourite images in collections to refer back to at a later date.
Imagine a photographer in the field taking gorgeous photos with a DSLR, editing them in iPhoto on their iPad then uploading them directly through an app to deviantART. Or a illustrator drawing a landscape on their tablet then sharing it on deviantART. What's the current process for users doing this? They have to take their image, wait until they are near a computer, transfer the image, edit if necessary and then finally upload to deviantART.
Lowering the steps needed for these artists to submit art is a strategic asset for deviantART, every minute the user is performing an extra step is a minute where the user could get sidetracked and move on.
A native app creates an experience for a user that a mobile website at this stage can simply not match. A native app can provide a user engagement that a website cannot, animations that inform you, help you and delight you can be created using native apps, the same animations in a web browser could be sluggish to a user and irritate them. Engaging a user by delighting them is a great way to create an experience that can draw users back again and again.
In the use case of a deviantART app, an example of a delighting animation could be something as simple as what occurs when you favourite a deviation. Having the deviation bounce into it's collection can surprise a user and delight them time and time again, even a simple animation such as this can engage the user greatly.
Third party apps for deviantART are appearing quickly and the apps are getting better and better, deviantART needs to own its mobile presence with gorgeous native applications alongside a great desktop and mobile website before a third party does. By owning it's mobile presence correctly deviantART could create an experience users will remember and come back to in the future.
In the near future, some users may only ever use tablets or phones, is deviantART planning for this, or will it just miss out on the revolution that is coming?
, but I'd love to get your thoughts on mobile and the new site, along with thoughts on mobile apps and whether dA should do them or not.
If you agree with this, please favourite and share it, whether you do so on Twitter, Facebook, by relinking to this in a Journal or submitting to a group, please do it
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Sta.sh
). Within a few hours of it's launch I received a Daily Deviation on it which I have to thank ^
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