Your Desktop is Now Just Another "Device" like a Tablet, but Bigger
Can you remember, back before the computer was the main item on our workdesks, and sending an "email" was a new thing you weren't quite sure about? It wasn't that long ago.
I thought about that today as I was listening to a webinar about "responsive web design." That term means to design your internet communication to respond to any size or shape device the human is using to see or read it.
The speaker said, "Back in the desktop era . . ." What?
Yes, the "desktop" era is actually ending. Last year, when more phones and tablets came bursting on the scene, and people also started hooking up their keyboards via bluetooth to play on large wall television sets as monitors, the desktop just became one more "device" . . . somewhere in the middle. This is quite a stunning transition.
When someone goes to see your online offerings . . . They may do it on a phone. They may do it on a wall screen. They may do it on a one inch web wristwatch. They may do it on a tablet. And, yes, they may still do it on a 15 or 19 or 21 or 26 inch monitor standing on their desk. The percentages of people who use one "device" over another is shifting so fast we can barely publish the numbers before they are outdated.
What does this mean for you or for your business?
For you, well you can see anything anytime anywhere. I was trying to view something on a large tablet today, and I realized it needed wifi, oh! I have gotten so used to having a tablet with built in web service just like my phone, that I forgot I could not just go online instantly in the middle of the table at the Northgate mall to make my point in a conversation. We literally can see anything or do anything just about anywhere. I bought something from a food vendor. They swiped my card on their tablet with a square swiper, and it emailed me my receipt. Even a mall vendor is now paperless.
What does it mean for your business website?
Well, actually, do you even know who sees that? People will go to your "URL" or website address from anywhere on anything. They may never see a thing that looks like a page, the thing you put a lot of work into making look just right with images and ads and good articles. They will see it at 2 inches, or 21 inches, or 6 inches. The idea of a desktop website is now outlived by all the ideas that have come after it. It is time to change the way we produce our online information.
No more "pages". Those who built web content now are making it portable content chunks that can be styled to display beautifully anywhere. It feels odd to watch times changing so fast, doesn't it? Our adult invention of this wonderful computer has already morphed into another style of living. It is time all of us, and our business and marketing communications became ready to be served on just about any device . . . even sometimes a desktop computer.
Is your website ready? Oh, do we even call it a website anymore? Um, sorry, let's say, "your web address." Is your "web content" ready for this new style of living?
Image credits: online pictures of "Apple's rumored curved-glass wrist computer mockup" and "Samsung flexible AMOLED display" from their prototype videos.