n390, based in Atlanta, Georgia, is a web application and design consultancy. We specialize in implementing content management systems which empower our clients to create a rich and dynamic web presence.
Now that the iPad is available and quite popular, business owners are increasingly feeling the pressure to make their website look its best on such new devices. The iPhone along with Firefox have been responsible for a big push towards making websites standards compliant, but the iPhone/iPad have really brought the issue to the forefront because neither platform supports Flash.
We at n390 have never encouraged using flash for a website or any kind of navigation and content elements, though slideshows are occasionally acceptable when using clean fallback methods.
With the growing use of iPads and tablets in general, there is even greater demand to make websites look and function their best on these new devices. To help with the transition, Apple published a tech note on the subject. It addresses some major items developers must factor into websites, such as adhering to W3C standards instead of plug-ins, thereby abandoning Flash and other such abominations.
Here is the list:
The great news for our clients: n390 websites are already compliant! We have always avoided non-standard practices and choose technologies carefully.
Having said that, there are a some additional things we are doing now that will take advantage of the new iPad and similar tablets to continue providing our clients with exceptional websites. Included is designing the site's page to best fit within the iPad viewport. In general, designing for a device is a bad idea, but in this case it's not really the device per se but the realization that the tablet's viewport dimensions are in fact fixed. As a result, it's not a bad idea to set up pages so the main content stays above the fold. This may be a minor technique to most, but attention to the details is what sets n390 apart from the rest.