Apple has published a list of “iPad ready” sites. Apparently these sites “looks and functions beautifully on iPad”. But do they really? Is this all that is needed to make usable web sites for the iPad; use the <video> tag instead of flash and leave the rest of the site as it is for desktop browsers?

Well, I don’t think so. It is cool that video works on the iPad, and the new and fancy html5 and css3 stuff too, but the fundamental differences between a tablet with touch screen and a desktop/laptop device are ignored.

Any website must be created to accommodate the the device’s way to interact with the page (reading, performing actions, clicking etc.). Parameters are screen size (not necessarily number of pixels or physical screen measures) and interaction model (is it a mouse, joystick, touch screen etc).

For some reason, many of the brands Apple is listing are handling this difference well on their iPad apps, but not at all on their so called “iPad sites”. The over all usability of iPad apps are much better than the web sites. What’s the difference (in short)?

• Layout: Content is organized differently (different information architecture)
• Interaction: Bigger, more readable text. Easier to hit links/buttons on iPad apps, because you have to be able to hit them with your thumb (better affordance).

So why aren’t these principles used on tablet sites as well? This is obviously over-simplified, but these small things would have huge impact on the usability of the web sites on iPad and other tablets.

Even if it is easy and handy to pinch and zoom on the iPad, the user should not be forced to do that. He/she doesn’t have to do that in an app, why do that on a web site?

The other thing that is easy to forget is the difference in connection mode between a desktop device and a tablet. This is also an important parameter in the information architecture.

I hope (and believe) that things will start happening here. The recent facebook strategy will fuel this development. It’s really about common sense…