In this digital age of smartphones and tablets, creating a good UI is not the only challenge for web designers, as now you also have to provide users with a creative and enhanced User Experience (UX). When it comes to UX, it is hard to determine what works for mobile users in terms of design and what affects the overall experience.
In 2010, Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt said that “moving forward, web designers should put mobile-first.” During his keynote at Mobile World Congress, he focused on the growth of mobile devices and urged people to “work on mobile-first” before desktop computers and laptops. It is time to adapt to the new world as you can no longer get away with designing for a desktop only.
Why Should You Design Mobile-First?
Did you know? in 2018 alone, the overall global web traffic via mobile phones was a staggering 52.2%. Due to the massive growth in the smartphone industry in recent years, people have also moved from desktops to mobile phones when it comes to accessing the internet. Now adays, it is highly uncommon for you to meet someone without a smartphone.
Just as the word indicates, mobile-first means designing and sketching for mobile-first and then scale up to larger screens like tablets, desktop computers, etc. Mobile-first design is not only for smartphones alone; it ensures the right user experience (UX) to the right screen and UX one of the essential elements of a good website. Mobile phone screens have such a limited space, so it makes sense to start designing your website UX from there and then progressively move to larger screens.
What is the Difference between Mobile-first and Mobile-friendly (responsive design)?
Before we move further, let us first understand the difference between mobile-friendly and a mobile-first approach. Often people use these terms interchangeably, but these are NOT the same things both in execution and technical specifications. Some of the best examples of a mobile-first approach include YouTube, Airbnb, and Apple’s Website.
For example, let’s look at YouTube’s homepage as an example of excellent mobile-first design.
YouTube has always prioritized mobile experience with an icon-based menu: large images and minimal text. It has also opted for a ‘hamburger’ menu instead of a traditional desktop structure to cater for mobile screens and users.
A mobile-friendly approach, on the other hand, relies on coding and prototyping for larger screens first, then using CSS to create a better UX for all screen sizes. For example, if you use a mobile-friendly website on your phone, then its code will detect your display and then deliver you the required format to your phone. Website designs are essential for your business, so consider consulting a web development company in Dubai to enhance the UX of your online platforms.
Benefits of Mobile-first Design
In 2019, Google announced that they now use ‘mobile-first indexing’ for most of the web pages globally. It means that Google will first look at the mobile version of a website in order to rank it on Google before looking at the desktop version. It means that if you want your website to rank on top of SERPs, then you need to adopt the mobile-first design strategy. Thus, mobile-first indexing also impacts the SEO of your website.
Even though desktop conversions (3.28%) are greater than mobile conversion (1.32%), this gap is closing significantly as mobile usage is increasing globally. By adopting a mobile-first website design strategy, you can boost organic traffic and conversion rates as more and more people are accessing the internet via smartphones.
Mobile First Design Best Practices
Here are our key tips for building and designing a website with a mobile-first strategy.
Keep website design simple;
Keep your website design simple with good use of white-space that will help you declutter your design and website content. Thus, simplicity is the key to excellent mobile-first website design. Keep in mind that when users are using their mobile phones, they navigate using their fingers as opposed to a cursor, so make sure not to include too many features and pop-ups. Make sure everything is within reach and easily accessible with one hand.
Use Captivating Visuals
If you are redesigning the desktop-focused website into a mobile-first design, then you need to choose a new theme for your site with captivating visuals. If there are too many distractions on your website, mobile phone users are more likely to abandon it. Therefore, it is crucial to use bright, attention-grabbing, high-quality images to make the experience more memorable.
Consolidated Content
The most important aspect of the mobile-first design is consolidated content. When you are designing for mobile users, understand their needs because it is very different than searching on desktops. On mobile phones, users are simply after quick and brief snippets of information. Start by cataloging your existing content and then prioritize and structure the data according to the user’s needs.
Make sure to present all the important content. You can also consult a web development company in Dubai to present your users a consolidated content on your websites without deleting any important information.
Ready to Redesign Your Website!
Understand the difference between mobile-first and mobile-friendly website design, then use these strategies to build your own mobile-first design for your website. Since there is a rapid increase in mobile usage and it doesn’t seem like it would decline anytime soon, thus it highly recommended to redesign your current website and implement mobile-first practices in areas where you can. Revamp your websites through a mobile-first layout and enjoy an increase in organic traffic.
