Mobile Development › how it works › designing a mobile siteon most phones (or at least legible on phones where formatting is flawed) isstill not entirely possible. There is thus a certain amount of trial and errorinvolved in designing a mobile site. The process which is certainly worth itconsidering that of the 3.4 billion unique users of mobile phones, a fair amountare accessing the mobile web (Toni Ahonen Consulting).Mobile handset emulators allow you to see how your work-in-progress websitewould be formatted, depending on what model of phone or PDA you areemulating. It has been suggested that nothing can replace testing on actualmobile phones, so if you are doing the testing recruit contacts with differenthandsets to show you the difference in display.Some emulators: • DotMobi - http://mtld.mobi/emulator.php • Test iPhone - www.testiphone.com • BlackBerry - www.blackberry.com/developers/downloads/simulatorsChallengesAs mentioned, navigation on a mobile site poses quite a challenge. As mosthandsets only have a basic alphanumeric keyboard and no mouse function,excess scrolling and typing makes it difficult for the user. Touchscreen devicescan mean easier navigation, but you cannot assume that all of your web visitorshave such devices.Screen sizes vary between phone models and the browser used can result ina particular way of rendering sites, making mobile web development a trickytask.Beyond navigational and formatting concerns, there are many different types ofconnections to the mobile web and service providers around the world. Mobileweb designers always need to bear varying bandwidth speeds and costs in mindas certain options may just be impractical on different phones. The solutionhere is to make sure you understand your target market and the capabilities oftheir phones and data budgets when designing mobile communications.Some people have smartphones with quick connections and full QWERTYkeyboards, while most are browsing on the equivalent of an obsolete dial-upconnection. Thus, keeping mobile sites trim and streamlined is vital.While some traditional sites will display adequately on mobile phones(especially if viewed on a smartphone) it’s important to test this in a numberof simulators. If financially viable, designing a website focused around mobilespecifications is certainly a favourable option