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I’m really excited to have made my first iPhone website! It’s a modest start, a work in progress, there’s a lot to consider when designing for smaller devices. That said, there is something satisfying in designing for smaller screens…the pared down, bite size chunks of info and tidy graphics.

With the excitement over the new iPhone 3GS and iPhone OS3 software upgrade earlier this week, the anticipated release of the Palm Pre and the Blackberry Storm already popular, there’s no hiding from the fact that the mobile Internet  is happening and is going to become increasingly important.

Most websites just don’t work well on mobiles, they load slowly, text is too small and it’s difficult to navigate around them. If you already own an iPhone you can’t have missed that many organisations have created mobile versions of their websites, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Virgin, BBC, the Guardian. Mobile friendly websites detect that you are visiting them using an iPhone and serve you the mobile friendly version of the website.

How I did it (notes for web designers)

I made my iPhone website using mobify.me, an online service that takes care of the sizing issues related to designing for mobile devices. You effectively create templates from your existing website and define which pieces of information should be included in your mobile site. You can also add in alternative graphics/text that are more suitable for smaller design. Mobify.me hosts the mobile pages for you and updates your mobile website when your normal website is updated. It’s quick and easy to get started and is a really helpful intro to desigining for the mobile web, however if you’re like me then you’ll miss the control of setting things up from scratch.