For this discussion I will be using a Samsung Galaxy S4 on the AT&T network, I will be testing speeds using both 4G LTE and Wi-Fi. In this discussion I will be reviewing the West Palm Beach Veterans Hospital website.
Not Accounting For Device Width
If you’ve ever used a mobile device to access websites you know the importance of that website accounting for device width. More popular websites like Amazon, Netflix, CNN, and so on offer websites that are fit for every device, meaning those sites account for all devices. Most of the popular websites also have sites designed specifically for mobile devices. The West Palm Beach VA’s mobile website does account for device width, but has not created a site designed for mobile devices. Basically the VA just displays a copy of the desktop version, although the text and images don’t overlap, I still find this very hard to use.
Desktop Version
Mobile Version
Not Reconsidering Content
Like stated above using a desktop version of a website on a mobile device is difficult in some instances. Obviously using Luck Wroblewski’s “design for mobile first” methodology doesn’t apply here given the fact that the VA’s website has been around longer then smart devices but in today’s age major companies like the VA should offer a mobile website. The VA’s website is very informational, most of the time I can find the answer to my questions when searching the VA’s website, however using that same website on a mobile device makes getting answers a pain. The VA should consolidate their desktop website and make a mobile website. In my experience when I use my mobile device to access the VA’s webpage I am looking for specific things, like directions, phone numbers, etc. I think if the VA did some sort of research survey and asked what are the “must-haves” for a mobile site they could get a mobile site up and running.
Forgetting the Size and Limitations of a Finger
Again, since the West Palm Beach VA just uses a copy of their desktop site for their mobile site it makes the “touch screen” experience a difficult one. There are a number of drop down menus and different options to select from on the VA’s website, even with zooming in on a mobile device it is difficult to select some options. I have run into many errors when trying to access something using the mobile site, for instance, when I select a drop down item, I am unable to select from the sub menu. Again creating a mobile site could help alleviate some of these problems.
Error Menu
Load error
Long Page-Load Times: Too Many Images
The West Palm Beach VA’s website was designed for desktop use, the desktop version is done very well, it’s responsive and looks great. The problem is when accessing it on a mobile device it becomes “bogged” down by the slideshow and other various images on the site. On a 50 MB/s wired connection on using a desktop computer I was able to load the site in 9.14s, however when I tried on my Samsung Galaxy S4 using Wi-Fi it took 31.29s, using 4G LTE it clocked in at 56.11s. These test were done without using cookies. I disabled the images on the VA’s website and the times were reduced significantly, again this could be avoided by creating a mobile website.
Conclusion
With all that said I do realize that a site such as the West Palm Beach VA is very extensive and a mobile site would require a lot of time and money. However the growth of HTML5 and CSS3 makes it much easier for companies to create mobile sites and options like bootstrap allows companies an “all in one” option.
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