#zombiru

What's the difference between designing for mobile versus designing for the web? 

Someone asked me this recently, and it left me pondering for quite a bit. Screen size? I guess that's an obvious point. Designs have already changed as monitor and laptop screens have grown, but this doesn't necessarily translate to a well designed mobile experience. 

What else varies? The type of interaction, for one. Swiping and tapping have replaced the mouse clicks of old, requiring a deeper level of detail and texture to provide the kind of intuitive interactions a mobile app really benefits from.

The fundamental difference I find myself thinking of most, though, is context. This matters especially while designing the screens for SuperBeta: 

What's the most important thing to display while you're out on the trail looking for a rock, and what's the easiest way to access it? 

Which pieces of information help you make a quick choice on deciding what to climb next, when you're at the crag and ready to go? 

And alternately, what in-depth content is both useful and engaging, for when you're at home planning a weekend trip? 

I think the route screen alone has gone through at least five revisions thus far. Maybe I'm just being a perfectionist, but I can't wait to get this right. 

There are a million places on my climbing bucket list: El Cap, JTree, Hueco Tanks, The Arch. Whether or not I get to all of them in this lifetime doesn't matter, I'm happy just attempting routes at as many as I can. :)

What are some of the areas you love climbing at? One of our goals is to have mostly content generated by climbers who know their stuff. Until the app is ready, we've put up some simple forms to move that process along. If you'd like to help us out, or even just suggest places where we should document next, check them out here. Word on the street is that Stella will make some amazing dark & stormy cupcakes for our best contributors!

This summer has been crazy busy for Zombiru. Gears are falling into place with the addition of two new developer/climbers to our team: James & Ramsel! We're hard at work on the prototype, so stay tuned for updates. 

In the meantime, we've been putting the Fall weather to good use and developing content for SuperBeta. We have eight area overviews thus far, and our weekly meetings have shifted from gym meetups to attacking routes on Indian and Mortar Rock in Berkeley, CA. Steve just got back from Red Rocks, and Ramsel & Narinda are currently out at Owen's Gorge. We're focusing on basics and working our way up, but if you're interested in contributing any content to help us get started, we'd love to hear from you!