Best Practices for a Mobile-Friendly Website

Having a mobile-friendly website is a necessity in the current digital age. Traffic data from Q1 of 2015 showed that 31% of online traffic was from a mobile device, compared to Q1 of 2024 at 61%. Here are some best practices to ensure your site is optimized for people on smartphones and tablets.

1. Responsive Design

Responsive design is the number one priority when designing for mobile. This allows the site to adapt to different screens sizes and devices. Have you ever been on a site on your phone and had to zoom in just to read the text? This is what we want to avoid! A lot of platforms offer scalable, mobile-friendly designs but what if you want to design something outside of the template? What do you focus on? Mobile menus are a must, these are present on every page. Your navigation should be flexible and have break-points that seamlessly switch between desktop and mobile. The website content should also be optimized for mobile, images and text should take up more screen real estate and scale with the viewport size.

Key Points:

• Fluid Menus: Utilize break points for seamless switching of desktop and mobile menus.
• Flexible Images and Content: Ensure images/text scale and adjust within their containing elements.

2. Optimize Loading Speed

Mobile users often experience slower internet connections compared to desktop users. Therefore, optimizing your website's loading speed is critical. There are many tools that you can use to audit your sites performance for mobile. Here are some things you can do to optimize this speed.

Key Points:

• Compress Images: Use image formats like JPEG and WebP, and try to keep your file size under 1 megabyte.
• Minimize JavaScript and CSS: Reduce the file sizes of your scripts and stylesheets.
• Browser Caching: Enable caching to store some of your website's data on users' devices.

3. Simplify Navigation

Mobile websites have limited space to work with, and this can make the navigation of the site difficult and overwhelming if not done right. An intricate mega-menu is cool and fun for desktop but it needs to work on mobile as well. Simplifying your navigation can help ensure that your users don’t have a worse experience on different devices. Many sites use hamburger menus and some large sites even use them for desktop!

Key Points:

• Hamburger Menu: A great option to save space .
• Obvious Buttons: Large and obvious buttons are great to avoid accidental clicks and frustration, avoid using hyperlinking as your primary buttons for mobile.
• Sticky Navigation: If you have a simple navigation, making it sticky at the top is great to minimize the need for scrolling. If you have a tall logo or navigation as a whole, its important to keep in mind how much vertical real estate you are using by making it sticky.

4. Prioritize Content

Mobile users are often looking for something specific, as opposed to desktop traffic that may be more skewed towards browsing and digesting more content. Make sure that you understand your audience and what they are looking for, then prioritize that for mobile. Clear and concise headlines go a long way in shaping how a viewer interacts with the page. Make sure that your main information is “above the fold” and doesn’t require scrolling or tapping.

Key Points:

• Above the Fold: Place critical information at the top of the page.
• Clear Headlines: Use concise and descriptive headings to guide users.
• Readable Fonts: Choose legible font sizes and styles that are easy to read on small screens.

5. Touch-Friendly Design

Design your website with touch interactions in mind. Ensure that all elements are easily tappable and provide a smooth user experience. Ensure your touch points are intuitive and utilize familiar methods for encouraging interaction.

Key Points:

• Larger Touch Targets: Make sure buttons and links are large enough to be tapped easily.
• Hover State: Since hover effects don't work on touchscreens, ensure all interactive elements are functional without them.
• Gestures: Incorporate common mobile gestures like swiping that users are familiar with.

6. Test on Multiple Devices

Regularly test your website on various devices to ensure it performs well across all platforms. This includes different smartphones, tablets, and even operating systems.

Key Points:

• Cross-Browser Testing: Ensure compatibility with different web browsers.
• Emulators and Real Devices: Use both emulators and real devices for testing.
• User Testing: Get feedback from real users to identify any usability issues.

7. Implement Mobile-Specific Features

Take advantage of features unique to mobile devices.

Key Points:

• Geolocation: Use GPS to provide location-based services or information.
• Click-to-Call: Enable phone numbers to be clickable for direct calling.
• Mobile Payments: Integrate mobile-friendly payment options for e-commerce sites.

Conclusion

Creating a mobile-friendly website is essential for today’s internet users. By following these best practices, you can ensure your website provides a consistent and positive experience across different devices. Here at August Ash, this is a core experience that we focus on when designing sites let us know if you need help in creating an excellent mobile experience.