Why create mobile-first web designs?
With the mobile phone having an integral role in everyone’s lives, and with practically everyone having one, mobile phones are now popularly used to access the internet instead of the desktop.
In fact, studies show that the percentage of people using the mobile phone to surf the internet has increased from 57 to 63% over the past few years.
This has also lead to people spending as much as 49% of their time on the internet via mobile devices. This is why it is predicted that web designers like Media Spearhead will have to focus on optimizing websites for mobile devices in 2019.
You may wonder what’s new about this because most websites are mobile-friendly. Well, the main difference is that 2019 will emphasize more on mobile-first, and not mobile-friendly websites.
This is mainly because Google had launched a mobile-first index in 2016 where websites will be ranked based on their mobile vision and not the desktop version.
What are mobile-friendly and mobile-first websites?
There is a marked difference between the two. In the case of mobile-friendly websites, the technology used for creating a traditional website is modified to create mobile responsive websites.
Conversely, mobile-first websites are first created for the mobile device and then adapted for the desktop. Here are some techniques web designers like Media Spearhead use to build an optimized mobile-first website.
Use the help of responsive HTML frameworks
Responsive HTML frameworks like Bootstrap and Foundation are best for creating optimized, mobile-friendly designs. These frameworks use a grid-based content structure with columns and rows.
This helps you easily define each section for small, medium and large screen sizes. It also lets you choose to show or hide sections from smaller screens, and automatically enhances the design for mobile devices.
Most web designers like Media Spearhead design mobile-first websites to provide the best user experience to visitors. They let the visitors easily explore and navigate the site to learn more about your product and brand. For example, they prevent zooming into a desktop website to read smaller fonts by using points for the font sizes instead of pixels.
Improved speed
It was after Google’s announcement that page loading speed would affect mobile search rankings from July 2018 that web designers work to optimize your website for maximum page speed.
They do it by:
- Installing a caching plug-in in Word Press sites to set up a website caching system
- Installing a free CDN to deliver website content based on the visitor’s geo-location.
- Compressing and optimizing images for mobile screens to deliver images without slowing down the page loading speed.
- Installing an SSL certificate to switch to a secure HTTPS protocol for improved website security and loading speed.
- Format and create a mobile-first website
- Sometimes your website will have to be specially formatted to create a mobile-first website. Media Spearhead may display the large navigation menu of your desktop website by hiding the navigation links behind a menu button.
With mobile users tapping on links and swiping screens for website interaction, web designers now format your mobile website for these interactions. They use interactive buttons and not text links, and mobile-friendly image galleries with swipe gestures for a better browsing experience.
Keep testing and improving
Media Spearhead will test, and ensure your website design looks great on different devices, browsers, and platforms. Remember, while most people use modern browsers, there are still people who use The Internet Explorer browser. So your website has to be accessible by them too.
Media Spearhead also ensures your site looks great both on old android phones and the latest iPhones. They do this by testing the website design for responsiveness and use A/B split testing of landing pages to optimize the pages for the best results.
Conclusion
While there may not be any fixed manner to design mobile-first websites, most web designers like Media Spearhead follow some standards to ensure your website appeals best to the end mobile users.
This is why it’s better to approach web designers like them who know the importance of mobile-first websites today. Besides, they also know how to improve your web design so that it meets the latest Google algorithms and trends.