Having a mobile friendly website is not an option today. It is more or less a must to survive in this digital age. As of 2017, there are more mobile users than desktop users. These mobile users expect businesses to give mobile optimized website. Consumers usually do nor return to a website if it does not adjusts to their mobile screens and load properly on it.
So businesses today aim for Mobile first Responsive Designs. Responsive web design practices includes extensive planning that determines how users will use the website on mobiles. This will prioritise what content should be placed on your website. Practically speaking, it allows for the best possible experience for mobile users.
However, there are always enhancements and additional functionalities as you increase your screen size. There seems to be inconsistencies in user experiences on different screen sizes. Mobile First Responsive Designs target to reduce these inconsistencies to the possible minimum. This will include a change in overall content and design of your current website.
Since 2015, Google Criteria for website includes Mobile friendliness. This means websites that are more mobile friendly, stand a chance of better ranking. New websites are built on these parameters. However, the older websites are in predicament. While they eventually have to have Mobile Responsive Designs, they can temporarily fix it in one of the following ways:
- Create a Mobile version of your current website
You can easily convert your website into being more mobile friendly by creating a mobile version separately. Conversion platforms like bMobilized or Duda Mobile create mobile versions of your desktop website. It may sound simple but it involves two separate websites. This will include duplicate website management work for both websites differently.
- Use mobile Plugins on CMS platforms
WordPress, Drupal and Joomla are magical! They offer bolt-in-solutions for making your current websites more mobile friendly. Unlike the previous method, they do not involve having two different websites. This means your users will not have an inconsistent experience across different screen sizes. This is closest to having a mobile responsive design.
WordPress has additional plugins to create a customised mobile experience. They ensure simple mobile themes fir mobile access of your website. It has separate paid versions for ecommerce business websites. Joomla Mobile Plugins also include simple and easy to integrate mobile functionalities into your current website.
Drupal on the other hand detects if the user is accessing website on desktop or mobile. It will switch to mobile friendly appearance if the user is on mobile. All three, WordPress, Joomla and Drupal have user centric interfaces. They offer good solutions till you redesign your website into mobile first responsive designs. This is time and money consuming but an eventual necessary expense. In fact it is more of an investment as mobile websites provide greater returns.
