Pop quiz! What web-enabled device are you using when viewing this article?
If you’re not using a desktop PC, you’re definitely browsing with your mobile device, right? Why your website should be mobile-ready is not only important, it’s essential, especially to business.
Research-Backed Evidence
The Web has gone truly global as people are visiting web pages from their laptops, tablets, phones and smart televisions. And maybe, not too soon, even more ways will be invented that would allow for netizens to pay a visit to your web presence.
Right now, we’re seeing wearable devices and the so-called Internet of Things grounding up and slowly making a dent. In the numbers department, we’re already seeing that twenty-percent of all web traffic are accounted to mobile-based consumers.
And there’s no sign that mobile adoption statistics are slowing. Plus, people are growing impatient of websites that give poor mobile experience. Users are more demanding but never forgiving of complicated sites that are also difficult to use.
Today, more than 4,000 different screen sizes of mobile devices saturate the market, which do not yet include computer monitors and TVs. And now it’s a wonder how a site can look good across different platforms.
Thankfully, the emergence of responsive web paved the way for a new way of web browsing. But what is responsive design?
What is a mobile friendly website?
Responsive design is a recent web innovation that has truly improved web viewing because pages are easier to read and navigate. In effect, responsive web is the equivalent to having a mobile-friendly website.
Responsive design has caused quite a ripple and has recently been embraced by some of the world’s leading website brands. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have the budget scales of the big players because getting responsive design can be affordable.
But how does a website become mobile friendly or responsive? According to its proponents, responsive design enables a website to recognize the device and present it at the correct screen resolution and format for your smartphone or tablet.
There is no magic potion available to deliver a responsive design. It’s through a combination of layout and scaling images and reflowing content that do the trick in switching your site’s responsiveness.
Benefits of Mobile Friendly Site
Of course you need to know the key benefits why certain practices have to be adopted. First, let’s consider why you need to pay attention. Smartphone owners use their devices for a couple of very important reasons.
Among plenty of common reasons, these mobile phone users:
- View your website
- Send inquiry or email to you
- Send text messages to you
- Pay you after checkout
- Donate funds to you
- Access web forms
- Telephone you
Anytime, anywhere smartphone owners perform the above-mentioned functions using their handheld devices.
Hence, if you’re mindful of your business or the brand experience you give, it’s a wrong move to simply discount how important these people are.Even say those of your avid audience who view your webpage through traditional platforms like desktop computers or laptops.
Why make your site mobile responsive?
Around 90% of websites built or designed for viewing in desktop and laptops do not work within the viewing screens of smartphones and many tablets.
Unlike personal computers, touch-based devices use fingers to activate a link, not mouse cursor. Websites not optimized for mobile when viewed on these devices also require users to pinch and zoom too much to read a site’s content.
You can just imagine how it felt viewing a whole site that’s intentionally designed for a large screen desktop PC reduced in a 2.5 inch space: text that are too small to read and all link buttons become nearly impossible to select.
The overall experience is not only frustrating for users who’re already used to the environment of mobile. It’s also equally unpleasant and perceived to be dragging the productivity of users.
How to Make Your Site Mobile Friendly?
The first step usually entails understanding how much traffic is coming from mobile devices. Check with your Google Analytics account how many of your users are accessing your webpage through mobile. If data yields a bigger percentage, then don’t tarry long. It’s critical that you consider whether or not you need to right away detour into responsive web for a mobile friendly website.
Here are some lessons to get started on how to make your site mobile friendly.
Responsive Design and Mobile Design Are Different.
Once your planning starts, consider that while responsive design may be making your site mobile-friendly, it’s definitely the panacea to solve all your mobile woes.
The basic idea behind a responsive design is simply to make your website perfectly render or respond to various devices and screen sizes.
Designing to make your website responsive to difference monitor might mean taking drastic steps like stripping your site of its great user-friendly options that will only work for non-mobile options.
Address Site Navigation Early On.
As much as possible, remove navigational dropdowns if it can be possibly be avoided and built a much simpler and cleaner nav. One level navigation and disabled for mobile solutions may quite solve your mobile problem.
Use Grid.
While not a novel idea, using or applying grid to design a mobile friendly website can make a lot of difference to ensure that the layout for your site’s content is proportionally scaled.
If you’re retrofitting an existing desktop-designed website, using a grid system will help you embark on a whole new layout work.
Mind Your Fonts and Font Styling.
It’s not only the layout that should be responsive when designing to make a mobile friendly website. The font type should too. Carefully select font types that respond to multiple devices, especially on smaller smart phones.
Prepare Good Quality and Optimized Images.
Consider the image quality and quantity when designing a mobile friendly website. A website with some very bad images can quickly reduce you to the land of forgetting. Optimize the images with special consideration to the bandwidth limitation of your users’ mobile connections and devices.
Mobile Ready Website Is Here to Stay
So live with it. Mobile isn’t going anywhere and we might be just starting. https://staging.bigoutsource.com/blog/website-mobile-ready-with-responsive-design/If you’re keen on seizing the vast opportunities offered by the web, never underestimate what mobile friendly website can do for you.
Hope you get to learn from the insights I shared with you on the importance of mobile friendly website with responsive design. By understanding it fully, you can make your site a lot helpful and user-friendly for your new and avid users.
