A new look for iTunes

iTunes 10

If you've downloaded the latest version of iTunes (10), you'll notice a small (but ever-so large) difference. The app's logo/icon has changed. Gone is the ever-familiar CD and musical note combination, replaced by a musical note with a candy-like button background. Here are some other details I've noticed.

  • The app itself has changed and has received some updating, most-noticeably the icons that line the left side navigation are now monochromatic.
  • The volume slider now sports a nice, round metallic knob as the contact-point. A small detail, but I like it.
  • The "disk space" meter for iPods, iPhones and iPads has been subtly changed as well, removing the gloss highlighting and replacing it with a satin finish.
  • The maximize, minimize, and close buttons are now arranged horizontally rather than vertically, which begs the question, will this change be rolled out within all Apple-made apps?
  • A new social network named Ping is available which allows you to follow artists and other iTunes customers and share your musical interests.

Don't skip the fine details of your mobile site.

If you're not already looking at the mobile landscape and plotting out your own addition, you should be. Now that I've been able to live with my own mobile site for a while, I wanted to share some quick tips for those of you that are looking go mobile yourselves.

  • Redirect mobile devices to your mobile site. This will give your site visitors a better browsing experience through these devices, plus it will let them know that you have a mobile site, that is if you haven't been tweeting from the rooftops already.
  • Provide your visitors a way out of and back into your mobile site. This is a great way for people to access functionality or content that might not be on your mobile site. I will throw out a quick disclaimer on this item though. If your site is small enough to have everything on both your mobile and traditional sites, or there aren't any real benefits to leaving these doorways open, you can forego this item, but it's still something to keep in mind. Also, make sure your redirection and backdoor links don't create a giant, frustrating loop. Just sayin'.
  • Your mobile site doesn't need to be a carbon-copy of your traditional site. Look at what you think your visitors would want to access on their handset or better yet, check your site's analytics to see what content they are accessing from their mobile devices.
  • Give your mobile site an easy-to-get-to address. Something like www.yoursupercoolproduct.com/Mobile is ok, but m.yoursupercoolproduct.com is even better.

Mobilizing Me

When I launched my new-look brand late last year, I had a list of goals that I'd wanted to accomplish. One goal at the top of my list was to create a mobile version of my site which would allow me to quickly display my work when on the go.

Even though most modern smartphone browsers can display a full-featured website without many issues, I think the user experience could be improved. The way people interact with touch-screen devices is much different than the point and click method that we've know for years. This is differnt, more intimate, more tactile (even for a digital medium).

Mobile just means smaller, right?m.tiglu.com - The Home Page I'm a believer in the mobile platform and the future that it has for both creators and consumers of digital content. We're entering into a new era of user experience, and some changes are in order.

With mobile, you're dealing with a whole new way of thinking. Designing for traditional PCs (Windows, Mac, Linux, you name it) has always relied on the use of three things: a monitor, a keyboard, and a pointing device (mouse, trackball/pad, what-have-you). With the latest trend in mobile devices, these separate units have morphed into a more compact space. Devices running Android, the iPhone OS and other touch-screen reliant systems are changing the way people interact with their chosen content.

Designing a mobile site for point-and-click use won't work. Let me rephrase that, it will work but the experience isn't as great as it could be. The contact points are small and usually, there is too much content crammed into a compact space, so you're left to zoom in and out to find what you're looking for. This is what I wanted to avoid when building my mobile site.

What stays and what goes? With many of the distractions stripped away in a mobile site, you can put your content "under the microscope" and focus heavily on it. The question is, what do you keep and what do you leave off? You don't necessarily need to transfer every bit of content from your standard site over to your mobile site, but that's up to you. It also depends on the size of your site. With the mobile sites I've done in the past, I relied heavily on the usage stats from the traditional site. What content were people consuming using mobile devices? Once I had a clear understanding of what people wanted, I began building the mobile counterparts.

This mobile site is different. For starters, I don't have a lot of content categories, so everything that's on my standard site would fit on a mobile version. Secondly, I've designed my mobile site with certain goals in mind, namely the ability to show my work, contact info, and articles quickly and at any time I choose. That settled it, I threw everything I had into this site. Literally.

Another fresh start. Mobile Web sites are relatively new and with the wide array of devices that can view them, there are many new ways to conceptualize a site and how people can view it. I see room for experimentation in the navigation and presentation areas of a mobile layout. It takes me back to my time in college when anything was possible and the Internet had yet to be tamed. Fast forward a few years and there is even more ground to be broken in this area. This is my sandbox, and I'm bringing all of my toys. Without further introduction, I give you m.tiglu.com.

I've already started working on version two.