How to Optimize Your Website for Mobile Devices

How to Optimize Your Website for Mobile Devices

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Chances are that you’re reading this using a mobile device. If you don’t like the way that the page is structured or the content is hard to read, you’ll probably look elsewhere for the information that you want.

Why Mobile-First Design Is Essential

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Mobile optimization is the process of designing and developing your website and its content to perform as well on mobile devices as it does on a desktop. As more consumers access websites on their smartphones, mobile optimization is increasingly important.

Nearly 84% of the global population owns a smartphone and often multiple types of mobile devices. That’s far more than the number of people with access to PCs and laptops.

In fact, many people use smartphones as their sole computer, making it the only way they interact with the web. It’s often the only computer at their disposal. Either way, most people carry their smartphones everywhere.

What Does Responsive Web Design Mean?

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Responsive design means that no matter how big a screen is, a site will fill it properly and present information in a clear way. This can be on a phone, tablet, desktop, or even a smartwatch.

You can tell if a website if responsive by using a computer device. All you need to do is resize the window from full screen to smaller sizes.
But, this method isn't guaranteed to cover all sizes and check for errors in the design.

Websites that can respond to the screen size are considered responsive. Web design and development go hand in hand here, as the website's content need to adapt. In the background, there’s CSS and stylesheets that govern how the website will display across different size screens.

Until recently, responsive design was an afterthought. We used to design websites all around the desktop experience. Now that mobile traffic comes first, so does mobile design. That’s why you’ll often hear the term ‘mobile-first’ in web design circles.