Web usability guidelines for smartphones : a synergic approach

The mobile phones that we carry with us all the time have started becoming increasingly sophisticated and consequently are referred to as “Smartphones”. Smartphones today are extremely powerful and, in addition to making phone calls, are capable of performing a variety of other functions. One very important function is the ability to access the Internet for a wide number of purposes. An obstacle that these users face is that access to the Internet is through a tiny interface, which is in sharp contrast to the typically large, flat-screen monitor. Unfortunately, many websites are neither designed for nor suitable to be accessed from these small devices. With relatively little effort, however, the developers of the websites can make the web interfaces more appropriate for Smartphones and hence accessible to a much larger audience. In this paper, we focus on “web usability”, a term essentially concerned with the ease of accessing and entering information on websites. We compile and synergize several different guidelines with the intent of increasing the web usability of Smartphones.