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What does the iPad mean for Web Design?

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Hey, guess what? I’m still alive! Yeah I know my last blog post has been over EIGHT MONTHS ago, but I’m still alive and kicking. On the bright side, since then, I landed a job at iRacing.com, and redesigned/coded their website and built a second site, inRacingNews.com which is starting to gain popularity. On top of that I am working with my first client again, building a brand new site for a new program. Since December, I’ve been blogging almost every day under my WoW character at LegendofPiket.com. Yep my World of Warcraft Gnome Warrior is more interesting than I am.

So anyways, I have been reading all the rumors and watching the concepts about the Apple Tablet. How it is going to revitalize the dying print industry, and at least judging from the countless rumors I definitely agree, that it is something that will surely bring life back into this facet of information, killing less trees in the process. But what does this mean for Web Design? Consider this digital Sports Illustrated preview.

It maintains the look and feel of reading a magazine while adding a lot of really exciting features. The stories and articles are laid out exactly the same way as the traditional magazine, yet the user can flip between pages, watch videos, and even share stories using a bunch of different social apps. Suddenly the “magazine” which has been around for well over 300 years has become a whole lot more dynamic. It’s like a website, only a hell of a lot nicer.

Let’s assume that this mythical Tablet is real, is announced on Wednesday and gets released. Let’s also assume it becomes as popular as the iPhone, transforming the way people get and consume information. Suddenly 30% of the people viewing websites are on these Tablet devices. Without a doubt, people are going to expect the same level of quality from our websites, that they are receiving from these e-magazines.

I believe this will spark a dramatic change in the way we go about creating websites, and we need to take a long look at those old magazines to see how. Magazines present information differently than websites. Instead of pure information spread across a number of identical pages, magazines take a more modular approach, giving each idea or article it’s own unique look and feel. This creates a more holistic feeling from the users perspective, where there is a discrete beginning and end to the information you are consuming, as opposed to the endless stream of information we get with the internet today.

Without a doubt, people are going to expect the same level of quality from our websites, that they are receiving from these e-magazines.

Several designers have begun to take on this challenge already. The trend, known as “blogazines” is starting to catch on. As the name indicates, “blogazines” combine the look and feel of magazines with the dynamic nature of typical blog websites. Smashing magazine published a great article exploring this trend.

Personally, I don’t think that websites are ever going to become indistinguishable from e-magazines, but we as web designers need to take a serious look at what works and what doesn’t work with this new form of media. We can then explore the ways it can help further enrich the sites we design and build.