As you maintain and add to your site, are you making sure your website and all of your content is mobile friendly? Use these tips to evaluate the mobile experience of your website.
Evaluate how your site responds to screen sizes
Optimize media files and functionality for mobile
Always review published updates on a phone
Video summary: How to make your website more mobile-friendly
Today’s S&E quick tips topic is about improving your site’s mobile experience. Couldn’t catch the video? No problem. Let’s take a look at the highlights so you don’t miss the chance to improve your website’s mobile experience:
One of our biggest mottos at Sanger & Eby is to “think mobile first” when it comes to web design. Why? Because over half of internet traffic comes from mobile devices. What’s more, up to 94% of job searchers look for opportunities from their phones. So it really can’t be overstated how important a responsive site is.
To ensure this responsiveness, you must continually evaluate your site on mobile screens — checking that all of the functionality works well on all kinds of tablets and phones.
What does “responsive” really mean when it comes to mobile websites?
When we say “responsive,” we’re referring to a web design approach that creates dynamic changes to the appearance of your site based on the screen dimensions.
So, whether a user is on a desktop, tablet or phone, your site should respond appropriately and display content according to their screen size. It’s still just one site, of course, but it’s responsive and optimized for any device.
Jumpstart your site’s responsiveness evaluation
The best way to evaluate your site for responsiveness is to pull out your phone and start reviewing each page.
If you’ve recently added new features or content to your site, you’ve likely done so on your desktop. But don’t forget to check your updates on a mobile device as well. All of your functionality and content should be mobile-friendly. It’s especially important to check on features like forms, media galleries, search fields, job application functionality and any other unique components that might render differently on mobile. Confirm that the overall experience flows well on small screens — and take note of anything that doesn’t so you can fix issues.
Bonus advice to bolster website responsiveness
In addition to reviewing your website on your cell phone and/or tablet, here are a few other things to consider when adapting a “mobile-first” mindset:
- Mouse-over interactions might be cool on desktops, but remember that they won't work when you’re on a touch device.
- Similarly, pop-ups might work and look great on a desktop, but oftentimes they get in the way on a phone.
- Pages with large desktop-sized images will bog down your page load time on a mobile device if they’re not optimized properly.
- Double-check your basic functions:
- The top navigation should work naturally on a phone.
- Ensure there’s plenty of room for your thumb to click on each link.
- Confirm that the font sizes aren’t rendering too small on mobile, especially on your site’s footer links. Ideally, on mobile, those links should display a little larger in font size and be spaced out a little more for easy tapping on touch screens.
As you continue to maintain and add to your organization’s website, keep these tips in mind to ensure your site stays mobile-friendly for the long haul.
"One of our biggest mottos is to 'think mobile first' when it comes to web design, because over half of internet traffic comes from mobile devices."