Tablets are turning up by the boat load ..
… the age of the Tablet has truly arrived and with it new challenges too.
Last week I wrote – Urgent – Beg, borrow or steal an iPad right now! about how the iPad may break your expensive real estate website.
The iPad is not alone anymore either – now there is the Motorola Zoom, the Blackberry Playbook, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the Dell Streak – plus more to come including the Toshiba Tablet and the HP TouchPad.
Staples are making a big deal of the choices available with their Tablet Center.
There is simply no going back now – tablets and the way that content can be manipulated with swipes and pinches, are changing our surfing and computing habits – even changing the way we work.
Professor Susan Greenfield believes our computer habits are also changing the way our brains work:
Already, it’s pretty clear that the screen-based, two dimensional world that so many teenagers – and a growing number of adults – choose to inhabit is producing changes in behaviour. Attention spans are shorter, personal communication skills are reduced and there’s a marked reduction in the ability to think abstractly.
This games-driven generation interpret the world through screen-shaped eyes. It’s almost as if something hasn’t really happened until it’s been posted on Facebook, Bebo or YouTube.
The other variable you should consider is when is going to be read -
This graph illustrates when users are reading on the iPad – the biggest time for reading: personal prime time – sometimes even replacing television. Content is consumed on the couch or while lying in bed so bear this in mind when writing and presenting your pages and articles.
If you have already created a mobile-friendly version of your website please don’t think that this version is suitable for iPad user consumption. Mobile sites are designed for a teeny-tiny screen and usually translate quite badly to a user experience on the iPad. Your mobile site should never automatically be served up to an iPad user.
Some Brokers are getting the transition just right – Joel Burslem over at 1000Watt discusses how Sothebys iPad ad really stood out.
Resources to build stuff for tablets:
Zapd can create websites (think single property websites for instance) directly from your iPhone or iPad with their free app and the result is mobile optimized.
OnSwipe optimizes existing websites – sign up for the beta and check out their WordPress plugin that automatically takes your blog and turns it into a swipe-able magazine style!
Flipboard are finalizing their iPad publishing platform and will soon be making it available to publishers for free. Flipboard is already one of the most popular apps on iTunes.
Apple provides the tools to create interactive sites – but you have to be REALLY techie to get to grips with this …
If you cannot get your hands on a iPad to test your current site go ahead and try using this emulator.
Don’t be under an doubt ..
.. that this is a major shift in many ways, leave a note in the comments if you think I have missed anything …
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Peter,
Good articles, I have been telling agent this same thing for months. If they want to set the new standard in real estate business vice trying to catch up.
Indeed the generation now prefers the touch and swipe: makes things easier on the user’s part. Most importantly, the sites you presented are very helpful to the realtors who have the iPad or tablet devices. Thanks for this!