The Future of Mobile-Friendly Websites: Trends and Best Practices
Mobile-friendly websites are no longer optional, but essential for any business that wants to succeed online. According to Statista, more than half of the global web traffic comes from mobile devices, and this number is expected to grow in the future. Moreover, Google has adopted a mobile-first indexing approach, which means that it prioritizes mobile-optimized websites when ranking pages in search results.
But what does it mean to have a mobile-friendly website? And what are the current and future trends and best practices for designing one? In this article, we will answer these questions and provide some useful tips and examples to help you create a website that delivers a great mobile experience.
What Is a Mobile-Friendly Website?
A mobile-friendly website is a website that is designed to work well on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. A mobile-friendly website should:
- Be responsive, meaning that it adapts to different screen sizes and orientations, and preserves the content and functionality across devices.
- Be fast, meaning that it loads quickly and performs smoothly, without lagging or crashing.
- Be user-friendly, meaning that it is easy to navigate, read, and interact with, using touch gestures and minimal input.
- Be accessible, meaning that it can be used by people with different abilities and preferences, such as vision, hearing, motor, and cognitive impairments.
Why Is a Mobile-Friendly Website Important?
A mobile-friendly website is important for several reasons, such as:
- Improving your SEO, as Google favors mobile-friendly websites and penalizes those that are not.
- Increasing your traffic, as more people use mobile devices to access the internet and search for information, products, or services.
- Enhancing your user experience, as mobile users expect a fast, easy, and enjoyable browsing experience, and will leave your website if they are not satisfied.
- Boosting your conversion, as mobile users are more likely to take action, such as contacting, subscribing, buying, or recommending, if your website meets their needs and expectations.
- Building your brand, as a mobile-friendly website reflects your professionalism, credibility, and quality, and helps you stand out from the competition.
What Are the Current and Future Trends and Best Practices for Mobile-Friendly Website Design?
Mobile-friendly website design is constantly evolving, as new technologies, standards, and user behaviors emerge. Here are some of the current and future trends and best practices that you should follow to create a mobile-friendly website:
- Use the mobile-first approach. This means that you should design your website for mobile devices first, and then scale it up for larger screens. This way, you can focus on the essential content and features, and avoid unnecessary complexity and clutter.
- Optimize your website speed. This means that you should reduce the size and number of your website files, such as images, videos, scripts, and stylesheets, and use compression, caching, and minification techniques to make them load faster. You can also use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to measure and improve your website speed.
- Enable accelerated mobile pages (AMP). This is a technology that creates lightweight and fast-loading versions of your web pages, that are optimized for mobile devices. AMP pages can improve your SEO, traffic, and user experience, as they load almost instantly and provide a smooth and consistent browsing experience. You can use tools like AMP Plugin for WordPress or AMP for Shopify to create and manage AMP pages for your website.
- These are CSS rules that allow you to apply different styles to your website elements, depending on the screen size, orientation, resolution, or device type. Media queries can help you create a responsive design, that adapts to different devices and scenarios, and enhances the user experience. You can use tools like Bootstrap or Foundation to create responsive layouts using media queries.
- Use standard fonts. These are fonts that are widely supported by most browsers and devices, and that are easy to read and understand. Standard fonts can improve your website performance, accessibility, and consistency, as they do not require additional loading or rendering. Some examples of standard fonts are Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, and Verdana.
- Optimize your images. This means that you should use the appropriate image formats, sizes, and resolutions for your website, and compress them to reduce their file size and loading time. You can also use responsive images, which are images that change according to the screen size and device capabilities, and provide the best quality and performance for each scenario. You can use tools like TinyPNG or ImageOptim to optimize your images, and tools like Responsive Breakpoints or Cloudinary to create responsive images.
- Use percentages instead of pixels. This means that you should use relative units, such as percentages, ems, or rems, to define the width, height, margin, padding, and font size of your website elements, instead of absolute units, such as pixels. This way, you can create a fluid and flexible design, that scales and adjusts to different screen sizes and devices, and preserves the proportions and readability of your website elements.
- Give links enough space. This means that you should avoid placing links too close to each other, or to other elements, such as buttons, icons, or images, and provide enough space and padding around them. This way, you can prevent accidental clicks or taps, and make it easier for users to select the desired link or action. A good rule of thumb is to make your links at least 44 pixels wide and 44 pixels high, which is the recommended size for touch targets by Apple.
- Optimize button placement. This means that you should place your buttons in the most convenient and accessible location for mobile users, and avoid placing them too high or too low on the screen. A good practice is to place your buttons in the middle or bottom of the screen, where they are easy to reach and tap with one hand. You should also make your buttons large enough, clear, and contrasted, to make them stand out and easy to recognize.
- Reduce the number of pop-ups. These are windows or messages that appear on top of your website content, and that usually require user input or action, such as closing, clicking, or filling out a form. Pop-ups can be annoying and disruptive for mobile users, as they can block the view, slow down the loading, or interfere with the navigation. A good practice is to limit the use of pop-ups, and only use them for important or relevant purposes, such as notifications, alerts, or offers. You should also make your pop-ups easy to close, and avoid using them for ads or spam.
- Use the viewport meta tag. This is an HTML tag that tells the browser how to scale and display your website on different devices and screen sizes. The viewport meta tag can help you create a responsive design, that fits and adapts to any device and scenario, and enhances the user experience. A good practice is to use the following viewport meta tag in the head section of your HTML document.