8 Tips On Making A Mobile-Friendly Website

For a successful business, to have or not to have a mobile website is not a question nowadays. But if for some reason you don't have, it's high time you started to consider making one. Mobile websites might have already become as conventional as desktop ones, but they are and will be efficient means of reaching the worldwide mobile audience. So if you made up your mind and decided to build one, first you should think how it will look like.


Mobile websites are quite different from desktop ones, and they utilize a different approach towards making it successful with mobile users. Smartphone screens have quite limited space, and touchscreen navigation has a peculiar user experience. Here design and functionality are tightly bound. Here are some tips that should be taken into account while creating and approving a proper mobile website design.


Simple is beautiful and convenient. And it works for mobile websites like nothing else. Make your mobile site as simple and properly structured as possible. Let's see how it can be done.


1) Make sure mobile users are automatically redirected to the mobile version of your website.


2) Choose the foremost information to include: direct means of communication (e.g. phone numbers, click-to-call function, online booking); main information about services; locations on a map. Long bios and other texts of secondary importance should be left solely for a desktop website. Include only the things your visitors are most likely to look for.


3) Remember that the user must access the needed pages as quick as possible, and with minimum actions. That's why the fewer pages stand between the user and the action he/she wants to accomplish, the better. To navigate through the website, the buttons should have enough space to prevent users from tapping the wrong button, or trying to hit a minuscule button to make it work.


4) While reducing the number of pages, avoid placing too much information per page. This will inevitably make navigation aggravating, which is by no means acceptable. Make sure that the design allows users to tap and swipe around your website easily. You should also avoid excessive number of images, avoid popups and Flash.


5) Avoid too much text input for users. Typing too much is not a very convenient option on a smartphone.


6) Essentially include the branding elements of your desktop site (e.g. logo, design style or colors) into the mobile website. It may seem a natural decision, but think how to do it in the best way to make your mobile site as recognizable.


7) Keep in sight a link to the desktop website. Many visitors may want to proceed there for the information that is left out in the mobile version.


8) Check how your website works on a number of mobile devices: smartphones and tablets running various platforms. Screen size is a crucial issue in any branch of mobile development.


These simple tips must be familiar to software designers specializing in mobile websites. But you should know them in order to recognize useful suggestions that might be given to you. After all, an approved suggestion by a professional designer may invaluably improve your mobile website, therefore improve the unique image of your business.