Remember listening to your dial-up modem and how every time the landline would ring you would get kicked off the Internet? Fast forward 15 years and we’re still talking about phones and the Internet. But now it’s about the growing number of smartphones and tablets and how those devices will be used to access websites. And that includes your website. So as you plan improvements to your site, don’t neglect its mobile capabilities.
User expectations are ever increasing, so much so that according to Google even 400 milliseconds — the blink of an eye — can have an impact on searchability. In this environment, you can be left behind if you don’t measure up.
Designers Must Go the Extra Mile for Mobility
Mobile-friendly design isn’t always easy. There are a number of devices to consider when creating a website. Not only are there new devices being released seemingly every day, but tablets are now featuring higher resolution displays. Most of these devices have different resolutions and can require extra testing and code to properly format pages to the device. Enter the world of responsive design.
Earlier this year we launched a news-oriented content marketing website sponsored by a client. We knew this site would be discussing how mobile technology is changing the retail industry. It was important for us to make sure this site responded to mobile and tablet devices and we spent extra time testing to make this happen.
Mobility Not Merely a Design Consideration
More recently, we designed a website for an IT consulting company. Again, we knew we wanted the site to be cutting edge due to the nature of the client’s business. Specializing in information security and privacy consulting, this site needed to convey competence and innovation at very first glance. We believed that taking these extras steps in the design and building process would go a long way for the client.
In the end, it’s all about user experience. A web designer needs to be able to make information easy to find, especially when using a mobile device. This is not just something for web designers to consider. CEOs, business owners and marketing teams need consider their mobile web presence too. A mobile website can be the difference between your next website bounce and your next online conversion.
Tags: responsive design