Web Development News

SHOULD YOU BUILD A MOBILE WEBSITE?
May 8, 2012

Many clients have asked us if they should build a secondary ‘mobile website’ to complement their primary website. Smartphones and other ultra-portable devices is the fastest growing market share of the website browsing world, and businesses are eager to cater to this audience.

There are many factors to consider when contemplating the development of a mobile website, but the most important of which would be screen size. The question to ask is: Will users be able to experience and navigate my website easily on a 3 – 6 inch screen as they would with a 7 – 27 inch monitor or tablet? In most cases, the answer is no.

When viewing websites with a mobile device, even the simplest of tasks can be made difficult. Consider the act of clicking on a text link; this is effortless on a larger monitor, but with a mobile device it may require scrolling, zooming, pinching, and often results in clicking on the wrong link on the miniature screen. This results in a frustrating experience for the user, and frustrated users are not likely to return to your website.

A mobile website should be ‘thumbs-compatible’, where buttons and links are larger and easily clicked on by the chubbiest of digits. Mobile websites should be stripped of all non-essential graphics and formats to allow for fast loading pages, and a simplified user experience. Mobile sites should be fully compatible with social media sites and make it simple for a user to share and spread your content or products.

Some clients are concerned that the additional of a mobile website to their standard website will result in double the maintenance. They do not want to spend extra time updating the content on two sites. At Rebel Trail, we develop smart Content Management Systems (CMS) where you input your new content or product once, and the system will publish it to your standard website, mobile website, as well as any associated social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google +. We call this single-input/multi-output and it is a true time-saver for our clients, while making it easy to organize content and products.

If you choose to not adopt a mobile website, then you should at least test that your existing website is mobile compliant. Many websites are using Adobe’s Flash on their introductory or landing pages which will not display on Apple mobile devices. There are a many other formatting features that look great on a larger monitor, but simply will not work on a mobile device. Make sure to test your website on as many mobile devices as possible and notify your web developer of any formatting or display issues.

If you would like to discuss your options for a mobile website please contact Rebel Trail today.


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