15 Ways to Create a Mobile-friendly Website

A 2015 Pew Internet survey indicated that among adults aged 18 to 29 years old, 86% use smartphones and prefer using them over desktops or tablets. 90%  have their phones right next to them in their sleep, and 30% of them use more than four devices in a day. We are in a digital world, whether we are prepared for it or not. web application development services providers and business owners should have long realized that there has been a radical change in the way consumers “consume” information, and the glorious mobile phone leads the pack of devices largely by miles. An infographic by Online Psychology Degree illustrates the different ways gadgets have deeply penetrated, and interrupted, people’s lives, including their sleeping patterns.

Latest figures by Statista shows that more and more people use smartphones year after year. This 2020, there are 3.5 billion users of smartphones; a penetration rate is 45.4% in the world’s total population of 7.7 billion. 4 out of 10 people are smartphone users who not only communicate within the global community, but also conduct research, post content, and do online banking and purchasing through their mobile devices. It would then be unwise not to shift our focus on how to tap this growing number of smartphone users that are contributing significantly to the eCommerce industry.

Web design and development services for desktops and laptops have undergone many transitions lately, as more and more sites are becoming mobile-friendly to rank higher in SEO or Search Engine Optimisation. Google’s analytics prioritises websites with intuitive designs, responsive to any device the website is being viewed on.

Millennials and younger generations of today also have little patience for non-responsive sites that have put upgrading and adapting as their least priority. If your web development services are designed to be responsive, it only shows you care for your users’ convenience, and something as simple as mobile-friendliness can make loyal customers out of visitors who found your site easy-to-use.

What are Mobile-Friendly Websites?

When Google started checking the mobile-friendliness of websites in 2015, it ranked higher on mobile search results in those websites that can adapt from device to device. In mobile-friendly web app development services, the content remains the same but automatically resizes itself to suit the size of the device. Mobile-friendly sites do not require users to zoom-in or scroll horizontally to read the contents.

The purpose of responsive web design and development services is the utmost comfort of its user to navigate through its site on any device, especially on mobile devices. Here are ways you can make a mobile version of your website: 

1. Create Responsive Websites

Non-responsive websites miss more than half of the market because statistics showed that 52.2% of web internet traffic happened on mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. So, it’s a good business sense to have a mobile-friendly, responsive web design.

2. Make Your Web Pages Easy to Navigate

Make the information on your website easy to find for your visitors. The website GetResponse gets it right. The user immediately sees the different parts of the webpage because they are easy to find. The webpage is simple and straightforward. 

When you go over to the mobile version, the look and simplicity do not diminish. It’s still easy to navigate with parts that are easy to find. 

3. Use Media Queries

Media Query is a popular strategy that enables us to deliver a style sheet to different devices that have varying screen sizes and resolutions, respectively. They are used to customize the appearance of a website on multiple devices.

Media queries allow you to ask a device what size it is, then directs the browser to display things following the CSS sets you have determined. You’ll need to be sure, though, that the system is configured correctly for all devices currently in use or available. Make sure you look at the list or have some ongoing subscription that gets the information for you.

4. Use Frameworks like Bootstrap

There are many frameworks out there that you could use for web development services, but the most popular one used by a website design company is Twitter’s Bootstrap. It is a front-end framework for your website designed to scale your web page to any device automatically.

5. Don’t Disable the Submit Button

Do not prevent repeat submissions because the reality is, mobile devices and internet connections can also be unstable, and it’s better if users have the option to resubmit forms and the like.

6. Use a Responsive Theme on CMS (Content Management Software)

Responsive themes or mobile-friendly website templates make it easier to ensure a high-quality display for your users. 

7. Use Percentages

Configure images to have a specific width on the page to provide a consistent viewing experience on different devices without diminishing the impact of the images as much as possible.

8. Avoid Using Flash

Don’t use Flash because mobile devices don’t support it. Flash is an obsolete technology and should not be used even on the desktop. It can cause slow loading time and is not compatible with Android ad iOS devices. Switch to HTML technology instead, which is more consistent. 

9. Use Large-Size Fonts

Stick with standard fonts and make your fonts at least 14px in size, so they remain readable as the website responds to different screen sizes.

10. Compress all Images and CSS

High-resolution pictures can cause your website to slow down, so make sure you compress your images and CSS.

11. Turn off Autocorrect for Forms

On the input field, make sure you put autocorrect=off in the HTML to prevent auto-correction as the users fill out your forms, or else the autocorrect function will keep replacing names and contact details, which slows down the user’s activity on your website.

12. Make Large-Sized Buttons for Mobile

It would help if you made sure that buttons are big enough so that when the website shrinks into the size of smaller devices, the buttons won’t be large enough to click at all. Test out buttons you add on your site in different screen sizes, to make sure they remain a comfortable size for your users to quickly press.

13. Allow easy access to desktop view

Make sure your users quickly locate the button for Desktop View as well for those that prefer looking at your site in desktop mode. 

14. Include the Viewport Meta Tag

The viewport meta tag makes it easier to control how your website will look on mobile devices. The Viewport Meta Tag tells browsers to adjust the width of your website and make it fit the screen of the user’s device. 

You can add this to your HTML by typing on each page: <meta name=”viewport” content=”width=device-width, initial-scale=1″>

Know how to make killer meta descriptions to boost your CTR (click-through-rate). High CTRs help us gain favor with search engines to let us show our ads in a better position for less money.

15. Regularly Conduct Mobile Testing

Test, test, and test your website routinely, so you see for yourself any glitch in the design that needs to be fixed. Ask other people to check with you, for they might see something you don’t.

Conclusion: Mobile-Friendly Websites, the Start of Something Good

A mobile-friendly website is not the end-all and be-all of your brand. It takes more than that, of course, like good content, fantastic follow-up, peer-reviews, customer feedback, among many others. Know the roles of web design in your business’ profitability. The mobile-friendliness of a website is a start in the right direction towards ensuring your customers have the best possible experience in your page so that you can communicate your brand’s message well, and that you’ll see visitors convert into loyal subscribers and customers. You see, even in the digital world, friendliness goes a long, long way.