Ever since Apple rolled out the iPad there has been great debate and great interest in the future of tablet computers.  There are arguments on both sides as to whether they are as functional as they are made out to be.  One thing is sure; tablets have been steadily increasing in sales and production.  With mobile computing on the rise and more people using smartphones and tablets than ever before it is a good idea to make sure that your website is reaching your target market.  To reach your mobile users you must know how to make your website tablet friendly.

The first thing you may want to consider is the scale of your website.  Since not all websites are being viewed from a standard computer monitor it is hard for developers to scale their website perfectly.  For tablet readers it may be best for IT developers to scale back the site and make the fold (the point where readers must scroll down to read more) a little bit higher.

Take the functions of a mouse into consideration.  Keep in mind that the human finger is much larger than the arrow on a computer screen.  Make sure that certain that you can find a middle ground making your scroll bar and any important tabs large enough for touch control, but not so large that they overwhelm the screen.

Keep it simple; those three little words should be your mantra.  Apple products do not use flash so if you want Apple users to be able to access your content on the go you probably want to use standards-compliant HTML or CSS.  Keeping with standards compliant platforms does not mean that your website has to be less than you want it to be.  By using HTML5 you can develop a great interactive site that works equally as well on tablets as it does PCs.

Be mindful of your font.  Just like with the mouse function text will show up differently on a tablet versus a normal PC.  If your type is too small readers will have to zoom in to read your text, on the other hand making the font too large mean excessive scrolling for users.  Both of these can be annoying for users when they often visit websites for a quick hit of information.

This may seem complicated but if you take it step by step it’s really not that bad.  Think of it as a way for you to review and improve your site one step at a time.  As you change parts of your site make sure you test, test, and test again.  It is best to test it on as many types of tablets as possible so try to get your hands on multiple tablets including the iPad and a few sizes of Android tablets.

The world is changing; people are using smartphones and tablets for more than just computing and communication.  They are being used to shop, organize, game, and more.  Changing your web design to be more tablet friendly means more users spending more time on your site.  With more people using tablets and smartphones than PCs its simple math as to what type of users will be viewing your website more.

On The GoWARE provides mobile app development and training services for Apple iPhone, iPad, Google Android, and BlackBerry platforms.

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