Spring+2008,+G2

= =  **Website Design for Handheld Mobile Devices in the United States ** **Group Two **  Our research activity began rather simply with the group agreeing to focus on “website design.” An hour later, our brainstorming chat session was a blur of inspired ideas and potential topics for research. When the virtual dust settled, we arrived at a very specific and unique topic, “Website Design for Handheld Mobile Devices.”

In effect, our brainstorming session fulfilled two purposes at once: we narrowed our research topic to a specific idea while simultaneously exploring which resources we should use.

The narrowing task of our brainstorming process began with a discussion of whether to take a broad “discipline-based” approach or a more restricted “topic-based” route. The discipline-based approach, as we discussed it, was focused on website design as a component of different academic disciplines (e.g. “education and website design,” “psychology and website design,” or “gender and website design”). In contrast, the topic-based method we considered was aimed at more specific issues within the field of website design (e.g. “usability in website design,” “readability in website design,” “graphic presentation in website design”).

In essence, our debate was mostly an issue of where to begin the search process. Should we start with a discipline and then search within that discipline for topics related to website design? Or, should we start with website design and search within the field for specific issues? Our group felt that both approaches were valid and would provide ample resources. If we were committing ourselves to an in depth study of website design we would likely explore both paths.

For the sake of simplicity, we focused more heavily on the discipline-based approach to start our research. Our primary avenue for research was East Carolina University’s Joyner Library search engine. It was the first place we began investigating the breadth of articles on the topic. Utilizing the discipline-based approach we described, we narrowed our results with the library’s search engine. This step resulted in a grid of results data, shown below:    The grid demonstrates how we took our broad topic and narrowed it down by focusing on key words and topics of interest. Using the example of elementary education website design, we were able to quickly and dramatically reduce our search results from a possible 27,788 to 2,498.
 * Keywords ||  ||  || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Results || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"># of Duplicates ||
 * <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">website design || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">27,788 || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">52  ||
 * <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">gender and website design || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">3,023 || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">28  ||
 * <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">application and website design || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">7,239 || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">32  ||
 * <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">psychology and website design || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">3,155 || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">12  ||
 * <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">accessibility and website design || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">2,550 || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">36  ||
 * <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">graphic and website design || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">2,434 || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">31  ||
 * <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">industry and website design || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">8,530 || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">32  ||
 * <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">education and website design || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">9,140 || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">39  ||
 * <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">- university education website design || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">6,613 || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">20  ||
 * <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">- secondary education website design || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">2,743 || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">25  ||
 * <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">- elementary education website design || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">2,498 || <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">32  ||

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">As our brainstorming session continued, we ultimately moved away from the topics in the example above but we share them as an example of the process for refining research information or narrowing the topic using a database search engine. Not surprisingly, we found that after we reduced our search results with a discipline-based approach, we could further reduce our results with a more specific topic-based search. For example, we discussed adding keywords such as “font selection in website design”, “typeface”, “web display”, and “readability” to further refine our results.

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">At this point, we decided to expand our research process by discussing alternatives to the library databases. Other such resources we discussed were content and development guides utilized by professional web designers such as the World Wide Web Consortium (WC3). WC3 is a consortium devoted to developing standards and guidelines for the growth and development of the Internet. Additionally, we discussed the possibility of interviewing professional web designers and exploring non-scholarly and trade magazines.

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">These discussions lead to “mobile website design” being raised as a potential topic. From a design perspective, it narrows the audience as well as imposing constraints of display. We even discussed ways to possibly restrict our search further to a focus on how mobile devices differ by geography.

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Ultimately, we found that our topic yielded more professional website designer results than it did scholarly research results. One of the unique benefits of choosing a diverse and popular topic like website design is the vast amount of resources available outside of traditional academic resources. For instance, device manufacturers publish white papers to aid developers and boost marketability. Additionally, the mobile device programming community within the United States shares a lot of best practice information, which means the search could be further refined to “Best Practices for Website Design for Handheld Mobile Devices in the United States”. How specific is too specific? There is a lot of open source code, shared CSS designs, and a lot of advice on heading and graphic design out there, but overall, we agree that the major players in mobile web development would be software developers and web designers. Therefore, we came up with a scenario that would involve key players responsible for creating solutions for a mobile web design project.

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Scenario: A daily newspaper is struggling to keep readers in an increasingly mobile and paperless world. The paper already has a website that readers use to get up to the minute news, columns, and weather information. The web design and editorial team have worked together to add various multimedia content to the site, including podcasts, videos, and interactive information graphics. To capitalize on the popularity of PDA’s, smartphones, and other mobile web technology, the newspaper has decided to launch a mobile version of its site. This will allow the paper to compete with national websites by offering more local news as well as added value for Internet advertisers. The newspaper’s web developers must determine the best way to deliver multimedia rich content and advertising over a mobile network. The primary questions that must be answered are: how will the limitations of wireless network affect their ability to deliver content and how will the multitude of devices available for consumer purchase affect how the content is viewed?

<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Major Sources: <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Mobile Web Practices 1.0: http://www.w3.org/TR/mobile-bp/ Palm, Inc. resources for developers: https://pdn.palm.com/regac/pdn/index.jsp Microsoft Corporation’s developer page for Windows Mobile: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/developers/default.mspx Mobile software and development resources for Adobe products: http://www.adobe.com/mobile/ http://www.alistapart.com/articles/pocket Microsoft Developer Network : http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb415453.aspx iPhone Development Center: http://developer.apple.com/iphone/devcenter/designingcontent.html Mobile Web Developer’s Tool Kit: http://samples.gotdotnet.com/MobileQuickStart/(S(vswk3t454brdbi55n5drtpet))/Default.aspx?url=doc/SdkFeatures.aspx Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com.jproxy.lib.ecu.edu/journal/76507157/home/ProductInformation.html Software- Practice and Experience: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com.jproxy.lib.ecu.edu/journal/1752/home Software Focus: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com.jproxy.lib.ecu.edu/journal/74500440/home Mobile Networks and Applications: http://www.springer.com/engineering/signals/journal/11036 IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications: http://web.ebscohost.com.jproxy.lib.ecu.edu/ehost/detail?vid=2&hid=9&sid=fdbf6203-e197-4085-9fbd-4e859260fd46%40sessionmgr7 <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">