Mobile friendly websiteHave you looked at your website lately? I mean, really looked at it. How about viewing it in all major browsers? Sometimes there are minor (hopefully not major) differences in the way your site displays in Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Safari.

Before we launch any website at Lynton Web, we go through a quality assurance phase, which includes rigorous browser testing. During our testing, we capture screenshots of multiple pages of the websites in the two most current versions of the big four desktop browsers. In addition to desktop testing, we also test for iPhone, iPad and Android device compatibility.

Have you accessed your website on a mobile device yet? Mobile traffic is growing by leaps and bounds every year. From December 2011 to December 2012 it went up nearly 140%!

Spend some time on your website using a smartphone or tablet. Do you get the same experience as using a desktop browser? How would you rate your website’s mobile experience?

Building an Effective Mobile Website

A mobile site is an optimized version of your web site for mobile devices. It’s stripped down, and allows your visitors to find content and information quickly without having to navigate a full website using their smartphones. When you have a mobile site – all mobile devices accessing your website’s URL will be directed to your mobile site. So you’ll need to consider the functionality that is important to you on your mobile site. Increasingly, mobile websites are being replaced by responsive websites.

Responsive Design

A responsive website is one that offers your website visitors the most optimal browsing experience regardless of their screen size. Take a look at HubSpot’s site in a new tab. Drag the corner of the window to make it smaller and you’ll notice that the site reconfigures itself to show you the information in the best way possible given your screen size.

A responsive site gives you the ability to build one site for your audience and their many different screen sizes.

Quick Mobile Friendly Tips

If you are unable to do a fresh redesign or build with responsive technology, here are some quick tips:

  • Content first – Make sure that your most important content is easy to access, so users don’t need to hunt for it.
  • Remove Flash from your site – Or just don’t use it. Flash has been slowly falling out of favor, and it’s time to embrace HTML 5 video techniques.
  • Large buttons – Make sure that your buttons and site navigation are easy to tap with a finger. It’s very easy to click on a specific spot on a website with a mouse, but fingers of different sizes can be clumsy.
  • Disable pop-ups – Does your site have pop up windows, or do you frequently open links in new tabs or windows?
  • Keep your site trim – Make sure that all of your images and videos are as small as possible. While some of your mobile traffic may come over WiFi, there will be a lot coming over 3G or 4G.

Start with these tips and when you are ready for broader changes, just let us know.