Responsive or Mobile-friendly? Either or Neither? What is responsive design? Simple enough: it’s designing (or redesigning) a site that is viewable/responsive across a wide range of devices (and screen sizes.) Mobile-friendly design, on the other hand, is dedicated to mobile devices. A case can be made for either responsive design, whether it’s a re-design or a new site or mobile-friendly design: creating one in addition to your site or alongside a new site design. The answer is going to come from your user’s needs, simple as that. Do they have an existing site that has many pages and a complex navigation system? Making such a site responsive can be both time and budget intensive: adding a much simpler, smaller mobile-friendly site is likely the better option for such a client. For sites where responsive design works, link-building does too: a link back to your main site is also a link to your mobile site. Just something to keep in mind! Mobile-friendly means duplicate content. It won’t bother Panda: but depending on your CMS (or lack of one,) updating two sites can be a pain. One thing is for sure: you must make a choice and go one way or the other. We had a recent client approach us for a site: they approved an advanced, extremely-slick navigation system as seen on Tennis in Manhattan at left. That is an elaborate slider system: run your cursor over any section and it slides open. Beautiful, but for a mobile user? They’d see perhaps part of that first section with its menu: no more. Wisely they had us design a far more simple mobile UI for users on the go.
Galaxy | WEBLINKS LTD Call at: 888.666.4316 http://www.galaxyweblinks.com/
Responsive or Mobile-friendly? Either or Neither? After consulting with the client and their customers, we learned that most users wanted to know where each of the tennis clubs were located as well as phone numbers: with that in mind, we crafted the mobile page at left for them. As you’ll see in the following section, it isn’t a question of ‘if’ your site needs to be either a responsive design or mobile-friendly: it’s ‘when’.
But My Site Looks Fine Now on my Phone… You may argue that there’s no current problem with your site when viewed on smaller devices. Sure, users have to zoom here and there, but they’re used to that by now! Besides, how many users really use the web features on their phones, after all? Phooie – it’s the basic desktop or laptop user who is far more important to your business. Hate to do this to you, but how about a few current stats? 10% of all internet users now are mobile: one reputable site states that 1 in 7 searches are done on the mobile web: if your site isn’t mobile-friendly, this is comparable to shutting it down one day a week! According to the Washington Post, mobile use will grow a staggering 66% over next 5 years. Beginning to feel a bit uneasy? Perhaps you’d best check now how your site looks on a mobile device: here is a fast way to check for looks alone. How your site responds to thumb presses and other features is another question you should investigate. It’s not just a question of slapping together a design that looks passable on smaller screens: it goes far deeper than that. Here at Galaxy Web Links, we ask when your site was originally built. Prior to 2010, chances are that your mobile customers don’t have an easy time accessing your products or services. You have a choice: we’ll redesign your current site into a responsive one, or design you a mobile-friendly site: we’ll consult closely with you to decide Galaxy | WEBLINKS LTD Call at: 888.666.4316 http://www.galaxyweblinks.com/
Responsive or Mobile-friendly? Either or Neither? which way to go to ensure that what mobile users actually need whilst mobile is what they’ll see and have access to. No cookie-cutter “Presto – your site is now mobile” design application can possibly do that. Instead, they grab however many menu items will fit at a certain resolution and that is that. Do mobile users really need to know “About Us” when on the move and trying to find the menu on the closest restaurant? We work with you and then design according to the following 5 step process:
1. Access current situation. Most of us use Google Analytics: for this situation, it reigns supreme. How many of your users are mobile? What pages do mobile users view the most – what content and functionality will be useful to your mobile users, while supporting your business goals, including those mobile goals? We check your competition – what do they emphasize on their mobile sites? Armed with these stats, you may need to change your business requirements. 2. Identifying key users and grouping themleads to User-Centered and Responsive Design. For a travel agency, users who need your service form one group. Your individual agents form another major group: each has different mobile needs. How do you discover these needs? Focus groups and interviews will help. You’ll gain knowledge of Galaxy | WEBLINKS LTD Call at: 888.666.4316 http://www.galaxyweblinks.com/
Responsive or Mobile-friendly? Either or Neither? 1.Devices used when mobile 2.What such users access your site for, when mobile 3.Which features are most used for each when mobile 3. Armed with this knowledge, you can now set mobile feature priority. It may be painful not to offer your full functionality at first glance: the benefits will far outweigh this sentiment as the ever-increasing flood of mobile users now find your site particularly friendly: especially if competing sites aren’t. The old 3 second rule still applies. If users don’t find what they’re searching for in 3 seconds, they hit that Back button and you’ve lost a potential lead (not to mention SEO: Google is a primary example of an SE who takes bounce rate into account when assigning ranks.) 4. Design for those priorities - in a practical sense: 1.Simplify navigation. Mobile users can’t see your lovely long menu with zooming and zooming – or worse, your elegant multi-layered system. 2.Clean it up! Prioritize, prioritize. 3.Make sure tap size isn’t less than 30 pixels. Are you getting the idea that all this is overwhelming? With our enhanced technology, it isn’t. Depending on your individual needs, we can create a slick, elegant site that provides a responsive-mobile user experience, losing none of your branding and emphasizing your major functionality, in no time flat and at highly-affordable prices. 5. Remember the old musician’s question “How do I get to Carnegie Hall” adage? The response still holds true: practice, practice, practice! Or for those of us in the land of coding production, QA. After our rigorous QA, we depend on user feedback.
Galaxy | WEBLINKS LTD Call at: 888.666.4316 http://www.galaxyweblinks.com/
Responsive or Mobile-friendly? Either or Neither? Isn’t it time your web presence joins the ever-growing ranks of mobile-friendly sites providing an enjoyable, useful service to users on the go? Give us a call at 888.666.4316 or click CONTACT US on our launch page.
Galaxy | WEBLINKS LTD Call at: 888.666.4316 http://www.galaxyweblinks.com/