Why you should be designing for tablets

When Joe Lovell and I recently spent a few days investigating and testing mobile websites, one of the things we weren't expecting to discover was just how few websites cater specifically for tablets. Neither of us are what you might call 'heavy' tablet users. Our critique of the sites we saw happened without expectation of what a tablet browsing experience should, or shouldn't be. Doubtless many tablet users are used to navigating full desktop sites on a small screen, but we were not. This probably made us a little more critical than most, but I think justifiably so in light of the collective sigh of relief breathed when we encounterd a site actually designed to work on a tablet!

This apparent lack of investment in tablet-specific design is all the more surprising given the current surge in tablet sales.