“Organizing Mobile” by Luke Wroblewski gave a nice overview about the layout, design and purposes of mobile websites and applications. He discussed how mobile design relates back to the user’s mobile experience and why they are turning to their phone to use the Internet. He emphasized how people use their mobile devices and why designers should consider this when going mobile.
One of the biggest takeaways from this article is the need to maintain clarity and focus when organizing mobile websites and applications. It all relates back to the user’s experience. Having a layout with a focus on a certain tasks helps users do what they need to do. Like the Yahoo example, the main focus of the mobile version of email is the area to compose a message. There’s no clutter with navigation items or other content on the page. Having a direct focus for the content of the website simplifies and streamlines the process. Having a focus ultimately helps to cater to mobile users’ behaviors and needs.
So when designing a website to go from a computer to a mobile device, it may be best to simplify the content on the page in mobile format. It’s not only about switching to a more vertical-based layout, but perhaps simplifying navigation or thinking about your content in different ways. For example, my church’s new website (which came out a couple days ago) combines all its navigation items into a top bar that says “menu” at the top for mobile use. Instead of having all the navigation buttons, it simplifies it to have the most important content front in center.