Mobile Web Design – Top 10 Tips For Designing a Great Mobil…
Mobile website design is very different to designing a desktop website. Mobile web design faces many challenges, not least the fact that there is no uniform browser for mobile devices. Mobile website design also has to take account of different screen sizes. Here are our top 10 tips for a great mobile web design.
1) Consider the mobile device – Mobile devices have limitations when compared to PC's, such as small screens and no mouse, but they also have capabilities such as phone, camera and SMS which need to be recognized when designing your mobile site.
2) Think about the mobile user – Mobile users are impatient as a breed, they browse differently to desktop users, as a general rule, mobile users want want fast access to bite size content.
3) Keeping it simple – Try and avoid large volumes of text, as a guide 75 words per page is a good maximum. Keep the navigation of your site as simple as possible, the fewer clicks it takes a user to find the information they want the better. Do not expect people to fill out time-consuming forms.
4) Speed is king – Large images, flash animation and video will slow your site down – avoid them if you can, functionality is more important than style for mobile websites.
5) Make it useful – Think about what is most important to your audience, especially what they need when they're on the move.
6) Make it compatible – Mobile devices are incredibly diverse. If your site is not coded correctly it may look good on one phone, awful on another and may not even work on another! Make sure your site works on all phones.
7) Choosing your domain name – Using a .mobi domain will improve your search engine rankings and make your site easier to find.
8) Market your site – Make sure potential customers can find your site. There's no point having a site if no-one knows it's there, invest time on SEO, paid search listings, operator portal and directory submissions.
9) Analysis – Analysis tools such as Google Analytics are invaluable, test your mobile website and keep working to improve it.
10) Do not overspend! – Start simply and your ROI will come more quickly.
