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"Mobile" Means "Move"
Keep that in mind when making a mobile site.
This article has been updated on 5/01/2019 with the article entitled “'Mobile Friendly' Is Now 'Mobile First.'"
Cell phones in hand, your customers are on the move as they're browsing the Internet. Is your website moving with them?
The definition of mobile is "able to move or be moved freely or easily," which is exactly why people love their mobile phones. Thumbs are busy on the train, in the coffee shop and in the family room while watching television.
You no doubt have seen this trend and want to prepare for mobile visitors. You may be getting sales calls or reading reviews about "going mobile" and wonder which path to choose. Your options include:
- Do nothing and let your site look however it looks on a mobile device
- Create a separate mobile website
- Create mobile pages on your current website
- Re-create your current website with responsive design
Have you looked at your own website on a mobile device? Even if you don't own a tablet or smartphone, you can get an idea of what your site looks like by going to a simulator such as QuirkTools. Visitors need to be able to read and navigate your site easily without a lot of scrolling back and forth. Scrolling up and down is acceptable and common for mobile users.
If you don't like what you see, a separate mobile website may be your choice, but keep in mind that you are now maintaining two websites and two hosting accounts. Consider creating a few key pages optimized for mobile viewing on your current site. Either way, your webmaster will need to add some redirect code that recognizes the device asking for your site in order to serve up the mobile version as needed.
Responsive design is aptly named – responding appropriately to any device from desktop to mobile to tv. Our own website www.sprocketwebsites.com uses responsive design. Go ahead and take a look on your mobile phone or ipad and compare it to your desktop. You'll see that the pages have been rearranged to fit on a narrow screen and simplified to be read more easily. Navigation buttons are now stacked for up and down scrolling and content follows below.
Because we use DotNetNuke as our web platform, we were able to "re-skin" our site with this fresh, responsive design instead of having to build a new site and move all of our content over. The DotNetNuke modular system simplified the upgrade considerably and gave us the chance to try out a few advanced features at the same time.
Mobile is how your customers use the web today. Why not make it easy for them to find and use your website? Contact us today to discuss which mobile option would be best for you. We're happy to help you make the right choice!
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Kate Gingold
I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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