No, the iPhone has a 960×640 screen, it has almost as many pixels as a desktop display, and when the user zooms in, even larger images are needed. The optimization you should make is replacing bitmap graphics with vector graphics (replace GIF with SVG). A pie chart can be 10% of the weight yet look better. But you have to carefully make the images with as few nodes as possible so they are not computationally-intensive to render. And use real type instead of bitmap images of type, which is another vector graphics optimization.

A big thing is not to put 10 photos down a page, but instead to put 1 with buttons to replace the image with the next in the series. This can even be done in a way that works without JavaScript when it’s not available. You have to use time, not just space, show things in series. This goes for uncluttering layout also.

The whole point of iPhone is to see a full-size Web. Mini pages that you can’t zoom in on are terrible. The type can be too small, images too small, unusable. We have to adjust by making the whole Web leaner to make it mobile-friendly, not by making special lean pages for mobiles. We have to especially recognize that our audience is not in the den in an office chair with a brandy, leisurely browsing our one and only website for unlimited time on a huge display. They are on the go, they are showing up to find our address, or a particular contact, or office hours, or a map, or recent news, and it has to be fast and efficient in terms of organization and presentation.

Also, it’s not just the network that slows down page load. A mobile on Wi-Fi has just as fast a network as a PC on WiFi, but a 1GHz ARM is not as fast as 2GHz Core 2 Duo. RAM is super-tight on mobiles. Pages should be much less complex, use CSS for layout, not tables, JavaScript should be small and efficient, and many other optimizations.

While the structural elements can be addressed by better mobile web site design, carrier upgrades to HSPA+ & LTE, and faster App processors in handsets/tablets, it should be noted that Opera has solved this problem already with their very innovative OPML server compression technology.

If you haven’t tried Opera Mini on your iPhone or Blackberry (or Opera Mobile with Turbo on your Android phone), you should see the HUGE difference in loading times. And, it seems to work quite well on complex sites also.

The upcoming Opera for Tablets and an Opera Mini upgrade for iPhone’s Retina Display can’t come soon enough for the mobile web, I think…

Well said. Performance is not only about getting the data to the consumers device, but also “how the experience feels” to the consumer. Failing to measure both will result in a lack value.

In other words, the user clicks “submit” and the site takes so long to load the user’s other responsibilities creep to the front of mind. And since it’s taking “so damned long” to load the user abandons the transaction and moves on to the other responsibility they just thought about.

The solution resides not only in “really” mobile optimized sites but also in the way the site handles the user’s experience leading up to the transaction.

Performance Based Mobile Advertising

And sites / apps that incorrectly process commands / requests are deleted. Imagine having an app that allows one to determine the status of his account with his carrier. Except that it doesn’t work, and e-mail to the provider provides NO assistance. As a matter of fact, the app’s developers have ignored my requests for an app that functions as it is advertised. I am left with little choice in the matter since I will not do business with ATT or MCI/Verizon after they screwed with my finances.

Great article and touches on a focus of ours. As the inventors of mod_gzip we know only too well what performance means to the end user. The problem with Mobile is that “there’s no known way to measure HTTP traffic performance” inside the mobile browser.

Well until now. In a few short weeks we’ll be releasing a set of tools that allows you to measure not only your web sites performance on mobile but also your competitors web site on Mobile. We’ve included additional context like your real time geo-location, your device capabilities and even the carrier your using.

Ultimately though it comes down to how “fast” does this page feel on Mobile. And we’ll be including timing measurements for that as well. Mobile performance is going to be a big deal – but it starts with measuring it. Look for 5o9ezmobile.com coming soon.

Cheers,

Peter
5o9 Inc.