What's the difference?

What's the difference between a normal website and a mobile website? Here are a few traits of each.

Normal (Desktop) website:

• Visitors are in 'browsing' mode.
• Visitors have large displays (typically 1024 pixels wide or greater).
• Visitors have the afforded dexterity of a mouse for precision movements and clicks.
• Visitors are more likely to have plug-ins (e.g. Flash, JavaScript, etc.).
• Visitors have a full size keyboard for easy typing.

Mobile (Smartphone or Tablet) website:

• Visitors are in 'finding' mode. They need something quickly.
• Visitors have smaller displays on smartphones (typically 320 pixels wide or less).
• Visitors must use their fingers for "touch" interactivity, thereby limiting precision.
• Visitors have less customizability for their browsers, and are less likely to have plug-ins.
• Typing is typically more difficult due to smaller keyboards, and the physical situation of the visitor (e.g. walking, riding the bus, etc.).

The key differences between these types of websites are:

• Objectives.
• Usability.

The end result is that when you build a mobile website you must re-consider the content and functionality (i.e. Objectives), and re-think the interface (i.e. Usability).