Tablet world now?

Recently I have just bought a iPad for myself. I am obviously enjoying it now and it has been a good “toy” for me at the moment. There are statistics showing growing tablets users. This is probably because of the price being more affordable now. Started by iPad, there are many choices currently for tablet and it has grown to Android and Windows as well. Is there going to be a tablet war this year?

With tablet being so popular now, it is largely believed it will be very common device for the next 3 years. Is it a time for us to convert or expand our website ready for the tablet’s platform? Does your website need to factor into the tablet format? Perhaps, it is wise to look at it from the user’s perspective.

I guess there are some “Guidelines” to build a good or friendly website for tablet platform. Here come some of my thoughts,

1. Touch and Slide.
Navigation is obviously a different ball game when it comes to a 7 inch. There are two basic motions that users are familiar with. The “Touch” and the “Slide”. The layout and the design elements have to consider these factors, which are different for micro sites for example. Designer’s choices of Button designs and background colors are even more important than ever.

2. Typing.
Typing can be a hassle on tablet and if designers are thinking of creativity, they should minimize of getting users to type. Instead, use slides and embedded buttons so
3. Loading time.
Because users are used to the speed that application deliver in mobile and tablet platforms, they have generally less patient to wait for a website to load. And most of the time they are connecting the device with 3G connection.
4. Flash site.
FLASH is not supported in iPAD. But even if Android and Windows supports FLASH, it is still creating a loading issue if the flash website is too heavy in file size.
5. Dynamic Scripts.
Dynamic Scripts (to replace FLASH or increase interactivity) is still primitive in the tablet world. Many still have compatibility problem. Use it at your own risk.

More users are using tablets in there every day life. My insurance agent is already using tablet for their business presentation. We would need to spend more thoughts when we are designing usability not just for microsite but for tablets and mobile platforms as well. Do you have any thoughts on what designers should be wary of when it comes to designing a “tabletsite”?