Contrary to the opinion of some cynics, you can get a lot of valuable information on Twitter besides, "Time for another cup of coffee!" This morning on Twitter I saw a link to a fascinating site that grades other web sites on their mobile-readiness.
This is a huge deal these days, for the proliferation of mobile devices is changing how people consume Internet content. It's ironic in a way, because the spread of smartphones comes just as manufacturers are turning out larger and higher-definition computer monitors. In fact, it's perfectly common for someone to log off his or her computer (with its 19-inch monitor), get in a car or on a train and, minutes later, be perusing the same web sites on an iPhone or BlackBerry. This increasingly bifurcated Internet experience is creating major challenges for web developers.
The testing site,
ready.mobi, is run by
mobiForge (formerly dev.mobi), which bills itself as the "world's largest independent mobile development community." mobiForge is a service provided by
dotMobi, a Dublin, Ireland-based non-profit funded by 14 mobile players and whose stated purpose is to promote mobile web development and best practices.
Using ready.mobi is simple. Anyone can check an individual page by typing in the URL. To check an entire site, you need to register for a user account. This takes just a few minutes. Then you have to add a crawler to your site. Also quick and easy. Depending on how many pages the site has, the crawl can take awhile. When either the individual page or site crawl are through, you get a number grade from 0 to 5. Warning: Results may be sobering.
Hat tip to Twitter friend @HighTechDad (Michael Sheehan), a tech evangelist at cloud computing company
GoGrid, and @SimonJGreen (Simon Green), network manager at British web site design firm
Bluhalo, who first "tweeted" the ready.mobi link.
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