Sites being redesigned specifically for the iPad.

[gwynne]

Okay, so I had the choice of links for this story: FOX News or NPR. I figure either one will provoke offtopic political commentary, so I'll just post both. Go nuts.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/03/15/apple-ipad-leading-web-site-redesign/

http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20100315/for-npr-the-ipad-means-a-new-app-and-a-new-web-site/

I was just discussing this with a friend the other day when we were talking over the whole Flash debacle--I'm not at all surprised that some sites (particularly media sites) will go for multiple site versions, especially since many are already doing that with 'mobile' versions.

 

[GadgetX]

The only reason I can see for an iPad optimized site is to remove flash. Other than this the 9.7" screen should be more than suitable for the majority of websites. The majority of websites I use (obviously not the same for everyone) have no signs of flash so for me at least iPad optimized sites are not too important.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

If by "Flash free" they mean "HTML5 Video," then cool. Otherwise, meh.

 

[blackNBUK]

I think that 'iPad specific' web sites are the wrong way of looking at the issue. When developing for a variety of browsers it is much more flexible is look at a browser's capabilities instead of just at the browser's version.

For example if I wanted to put up an audio clip I would first test the user's browser to see whether the HTML audio tag would work. If it doesn't then I would try the Flash plugin. If Flash isn't available either I would display some sort of error message to the user.

The nice thing about this approach is that it doesn't just deal with one situation. If I uninstalled Flash completely on desktop Safari the audio clip would still work because the HTML5 audio support would be present.

 

[goobot]

i dont want my internet experience killed because websites think they are doing the right thing by making ipad versions that i cant turn off. i think the screen is big enough

 

[gwynne]

I would think they'll make as transparent to the end-user as possible, but that's just a guess.