Though the iPhone’s browser is a full web browser giving us virtually all the features of a standard desktop web browser (notably, of course, Flash and Java support are still lacking), Apple has released guidelines for website development customized to the iPhone.
One great example of this kind of iPhone-specific web content that I came across this week is 37signals’ Ta-da List.
37signals is a very successful web applications company that builds programs hosted on servers that are only accessed via web browsers. Their programs do things like group chat, customer relationship management, project management, and, important for our purposes here, to-do lists.
Ta-da List is the to-do list tool offered by 37signals. It’s a free, basic to-do list tool that makes it easy to add and remove items. It’s a great little tool. And, for iPhone users, it’s now even greater.
37signals has customized Ta-da List to work specifically with the iPhone’s browser. When I go to the site and login, it automatically forwards me to the iPhone version of the tool.
What’s the difference?
This version of Ta-da List is sized specifically to fit the iPhone screen. That means no zooming in and out.
The interface has been redesigned slightly. The standard version is designed to be used with a keyboard and mouse, but this version has been customized for tapping.
It’s also been designed for speed. The web version contains animations and nice design features, but the iPhone version removes those things in favor of an application that works very quickly on AT&T’s sometimes-slow EDGE network.
So, while this iPhone-customized version of the Ta-da List is not quite as pretty as the web version, it’s just as useful and shows the kind of smart, adaptable design that has made 37signals so successful.
I wouldn’t want to see every website customized for the iPhone, but where it can be useful, it would be great to see some iPhone-aware web applications.
