Update: Added full version links for MSN, ESPN and the Wall Street Journal discovered by "myeage" on the Opera Mini Forum and for Google News from a comment by Wap Review reader, Lewis. Updated Yahoo home page workaround.
Opera Mini usage is up again. According to Opera's latest State of the Mobile Web report, over 20 million people used the tiny but mighty browser in January, an increase of 12.1 percent over December. Opera Mini page views were 18% in just one month and 350% compared with a year ago. The trend is likely to continue. Opera just announced deals with Yahoo to distribute Opera Mini as part of a new Yahoo mobile application and with Vodafone to pre-install Opera Mini on the carrier's feature phones in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The stock market certainly seems to have noticed Opera's phenomenal growth, in spite of the recession, Opera's share price is up 47% in the last three months.
With all the hype about the iPhone it's easy to overlook the fact that more people surf the web with Opera Mini than with Apple's device.
Given all the traffic Opera Mini is generating you'd think that web developers would take pains to insure that their sites work well with it. Actually, other than adhering to web standards, avoiding Flash and going easy on the JavaScript there isn't anything that you have to do to optimize a site for Opera Mini. Most full web and mobile sites work perfectly in Mini just as they are.
There is a one web design issue that Opera Mini users do face occasionally; sites that force them to use a dumbed down mobile version intended for the limited browsers found on low end feature phones. I have nothing against mobile sites, obviously. I build them and write about them every day here at Wap Review. It's not redirecting mobile browsers to the mobile versions of sites that bothers me either. Users with an old RAZR or something similar will thank you for that. The problem is not offering a way to view the full version combined with mobile sites that lack essential features and content found in the equivalent full web versions. As I've been preaching for years, every mobile site needs to include a Full Version link.
People who have never used Opera Mini have no idea how fast it is and what a great job it does at making full web sites usable on a two inch screen. Mini users get very frustrated when they are redirected to a mobile site that lacks the features they are used to on their PCs. It's highly annoying not to be able to follow links in Yahoo Mail or assign labels in Gmail or edit your Orkut or Friendster profile or join a Bebo group; none of which are possible with the mobile versions of these sites.
Fortunately many mobile sites, including Orkut, Flickr and most Google sites now include a link to the full version. It's also possible to force the full-web versions of some sites in Opera Mini by using a special URL.
I've compiled a list of websites where getting to the full version with Opera Mini is harder than it should be along with a work around if I've found one.
Orkut: Has a link to the full version at the bottom of most mobile pages. Or you can go directly to www.orkut.com
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posted by Dennis Bournique
February 27, 2009 @ 1:30 pm
7 View Comments
