The Importance of Mobile First Website Design in 2024
Mobile First Web Design – The web design industry has made a lot of changes over the years. Web design tactics that were considered cutting edge a few years ago are now obsolete. Mobile first web design now takes precedence over the desktop version with regard to user experience (UX) as more and more people utilize the internet on their phones first, and their desktop computer less.
Mobile first web design is an approach to designing a website with mobile users as the primary target. This means that all designs and content will be optimized for smaller screen sizes before anything else. Mobile first web design takes into consideration the limitations of a mobile device, such as limited bandwidth and slow internet speeds, but also looks at how users interact differently on mobile devices.
For example, web designers may design a website with larger buttons and fewer pages to make it easier to navigate on a small screen. It is important for web designers to apply the concept of mobile first web design to ensure that their sites are accessible and convenient for all users. Mobile first web design can help create an enjoyable experience for users, regardless of the device they are using.
It takes a lot of skill and experience to become an effective web designer. It is important for web designers to stay up-to-date with the latest trends in web design and understand how mobile devices interact differently with websites. Only then can they apply the concept of mobile first web design to create a website that is optimized for mobile users. With the right techniques and tools, web designers can create beautiful and functional websites that are designed with the user experience in mind.
For a long time, website designers focused almost entirely on the desktop website version of the design. In fact, this was true until the last few years. Web designers would design the desktop version of a website for a customer, and then, once it was done, render a smaller version of the site that displayed “all right” on mobile.
In 2024, this has changed. To stay competitive as a website designer, it is important to think about the mobile website first, and as its own individual entity. Yes, the mobile site should clearly have the look and feel of the desktop version, and the tablet version, but it is no longer acceptable to build the mobile site as an afterthought.
Mobile First Web Design is an Art Form
When business owners are thinking about website design for mobile, it is important to know that for the most part, designers tend to build out a desktop site, and then the software they use sort of “renders down” a mobile version that designers then “tweak” to fit a mobile screen.
This is not “mobile first” web design. In fact, you would properly call this “mobile last” website design. Meaning, you design the mobile version of the website last.
Rarely do those “rendered down” versions of desktop websites make for EXCELLENT mobile websites. Yes, they are all right. They will display O.K. on a mobile screen, but they aren’t great. Often the way the headers display take up half the initial screen. The images from your website seem to move around and don’t load properly. The fonts often render too small to read on a mobile screen.
These are just some of the ways a mobile site rendered by software aren’t great for the end user to experience your company and your brand.
Mobile First Web Design is Responsive Web Design
In 2024, websites must be responsive – which means they must display properly on all screen sizes including the mobile version, desktop version, tablets, and screen size. Ignoring responsive design elements in today’s website creation marketplace is unacceptable – site visitors will notice, search engines will notice, and your customers will notice.
Remember, there are a lot of different sized mobile device screens now. Your website must display well on all screen sizes, including every different type of mobile phone screen. Otherwise, when users come to your site, and it doesn’t display well, they tend to leave.
The Importance of Good Graphic Design in Mobile Websites
If your mobile website doesn’t look awesome people are not going to take you or your business seriously. You HAVE TO HAVE a great website going into 2024. New statistics show that people judge your credibility based only on the design of your website. What is your website saying about you?
Remember, you aren’t going to be around to defend your website design with your great warranty or customer service while people are online looking at it – and if your website sucks, visitors just click the back arrow and never return.
A web designer must be able to create visually appealing designs that both match the brand and the goals of a mobile website. Using typography, color, images, icons and other graphics, web designers can create a unique look and feel for any website.
A professional visual design also plays a major role in reinforcing the message of a mobile website and ensuring that it effectively communicates with visitors. A web designer should be able to use graphic design tools such as Photoshop and Illustrator to create images, icons, and other graphics for websites.
UX/UI in Mobile First Web Design
An effective mobile web design will place a high priority on UX/UI design to create user-friendly and intuitive interfaces for mobile users. The way we interact with our mobile devices is not the same as using a keyboard.
As an example, menus that work fine on desktop can block the entire screen on a mobile site. A good mobile website design should hide headers and navigation menus in a way that they do not block up the entire first view of a screen when someone arrives at a mobile site.
Another Example: Icon’s for navigation that look and display well on a desktop version might be too small (or too big) when they are rendered for mobile. This can make them hard to click (if they are too small) or take up the entire screen (if they are too big). One size does not fit all when it comes to mobile first web design.
Another example: Wide panoramic images that display beautifully on desktop – can shrink down and be squished together in a way that they are barely visible on a mobile screen and therefor do not have the desired effect.
To truly understand UX/UI for mobile, website designers must get into the mind of the user, and think about how a person will interact with the mobile version of the site. How will they find things? How do they click around? What are they looking for? Are things easy to find? Is everything on one page?
These are just some of the things web designers must consider when developing a mobile first web design.
Why is UX and UI So Important in 2024?
User Experience has become a big deal in mobile first web design. In a recent survey, 88% of users indicated that if they have a negative first experience from the site’s layout, a slow website, or the website’s structure, they will never return to that website again.
What constitutes a negative experience? Making it hard to find things, making it hard to navigate, hard to interact with, hard to figure out how to contact someone, hard to sign up, hard to sort through products, hard to check out, or hard to pay.
Basically, if your mobile website is hard to use in ANY WAY – people are just going to leave. So don’t do that – make sure everything flows in a logical way makes it easy to transition back and forth, find information (or products), and contact someone in your business if they have questions.
UX and UI are two of the most important elements in web design. When thoughtfully implemented, UX Design (user experience) and UI (user interface) can make for a great experience for site visitors.
UX design is about understanding the needs and wants of users. UI on the other hand (User Interface Design) focuses on making sure that those needs are met by creating an attractive and intuitive interface. It involves understanding the users’ goals and how they interact with your website to meet them. UI design should make it easy for visitors to navigate their way around, understand the content quickly, and act when needed. UX designers focus on creating an emotional connection between a user and a product while UI focuses on the visual elements of a product that make it easy to use.
When it comes to web design, the combination of UX and UI can result in a website that is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also intuitive and enjoyable to use. This makes for a great overall experience for visitors, which will encourage them to stay on the page longer and convert more easily into leads or customers. Working with a professional web designer ensures that your website is designed properly and effectively, considering both UX and UI. A great web designer will be able to create a website that looks good, functions well, and helps you achieve your goals – whatever they may be!
In short, UX and UI are essential elements of web design that must work together in harmony to create a great user experience. Working with a professional web designer is the best way to ensure that your website is designed for maximum success and usability.
And it matters. Users now say in surveys that if they have a negative user experience, they are unlikely to ever return to that website. That’s why web design isn’t just about creating a visually pleasing experience anymore, but also one that is intuitive and enjoyable for users. A great web designer will know how to strategically combine UX and UI elements to create an amazing web experience that meets your goals. So, if you want your website to be successful, make sure you choose the right web designer and make UX and UI a priority.
How Mobile First Web Design Impacts SEO
Mobile first used to be a good idea – but in 2023, mobile first design is a MUST. If you are not designing with mobile first in mind, it is going to kill your SEO (search engine optimization).
Gone are the days when search engine optimization (SEO) was exclusively meant for websites. The advent of mobile web design has revolutionized SEO and it’s now more important than ever to make sure your website is optimized for both desktop and mobile users.
Mobile first web design involves creating a website that can be seamlessly used on both mobile and desktop platforms. This means that the website should be made with a responsive design, ensuring that it’s easy to use and navigate regardless of the platform the user is using.
Having a website designed specifically for mobile users has numerous SEO benefits, such as improved load times and easier navigation. Mobile friendly websites tend to rank higher in search engine rankings and are more likely to be shared on social media, leading to more organic traffic. Additionally, mobile-friendly websites have larger click through rates as users find it easier to use the website on their phones.
Whether you’re a web designer or a business owner, investing in mobile first web design is essential in today’s digital landscape. Not only can it make your website easier to use on mobile devices, but it also helps to improve your SEO rankings, increase organic traffic and ultimately drive more conversions.
In fact, in August of 2022, Google released a major update to their algorithm that gave heavy weighting to websites that were designed for “mobile first” – making mobile first web design critical to the design and architecture of any website design going into 2023.
Mobile Site Speed – What’s the Big Deal
Have you ever been on your mobile device and tried to go to a website and waited, and waited, and waited for it to load? Of course you have? And what did you do? You probably gave up and went to another website.
We all have this reaction to a slow loading site on our phones. This is why mobile site speed is so important. People are not willing to wait for anything, and they certainly aren’t going to wait for your slow mobile site to load.
And why would they? If the first page loads slow, don’t you automatically expect every other page to slow load? Of course you do, and so you leave.
You need to make sure as part of your mobile first design that your mobile site is screaming fast to load. Otherwise, people leave.
Plus, if people keep hitting the “back button” on your content, search engines take notice, and can begin pushing your search ranking down in search results.
There is NOTHING GOOD about a slow loading mobile site.
Summary Mobile First Web Design 2024
Building out the mobile version of a website used to be the last thing website designers did. They would build out the desktop version first and the mobile version last. This would be called “mobile last” instead of mobile first web design.
Today, more and more people access the internet through their phones and mobile devices. Web designers need to develop the mobile site as its own separate entity and build it the very best they can so end users enjoy their mobile experience.
Mobile first web design is an art form. People do not interact with mobile sites the same way they do with a desktop. They user their fingers rather than a keyboard. This must change everything about the way a mobile site is designed. It is no longer sufficient for a mobile site to just be a “small version” of the desktop site.
Using disappearing headers, hidden navigation, and correctly adjusting icons are just some of the the important factors that go into UX/UI when designing mobile websites.
Site Speed is critically important – people will not sit there and wait for your slow mobile site to load – they just leave.
Search Engines are now including mobile first web design as part of their search engine rankings. We can only expect this to continue into the future as more and more people interact online with mobile devices.
Mobile First web design is an art form. Lots of website designers are used to designing for desktop, but for most of them, mobile web design was an afterthought that software handled for them. The software they used simply “rendered down” the desktop to be smaller. This is no longer sufficient. A mobile site should be seen as its own unique world, and designed with those users specifically in mind – not as an afterthought to the desktop version.
