Mobile friendly
I actually don’t believe I’m writing this. Nowadays responsive web design is a standard.
In the web design world one year is like a hundred years for humanity. Things are evolving really quickly and you have to be up to date, otherwise you will be left behind. But there are still people who think that responsive web design is an extra feature and not a standard. Something that’s nice to have but not exactly necessary.
The billboard story
I usually don’t stare at billboards, but this one is in front of my eyes for a while now. And it’s really hard to miss. I’m starting to suspect that slow traffic on the highway is sponsored by whoever owns the billboard. 20% of the ad is occupied by a website address. I reach for my phone and type it into my browser. Beautiful picture appears on my screen along with FLASH site navigation. Yup that’s about it. I switch off my phone and drift into dreams. I think about what I could buy with this loads of money that someone wasted on this useless billboard. Maybe a new car? …with AC.
Sience fiction
We can close our eyes and pretend that there’s no such thing as technological progress. That mobile phones and tablets are just a phase. And that we won’t even notice when people start using desktop computers again (lol). I’m not a psychic or even futurist, for that matter. But I know one thing. People love freedom. Device that’s too large to move with and needs to be on the electric leash all the time, is the opposite of freedom. People are eager to make the most out of technology and they love to use it when, and where it’s most convenient. Which is here and now.
People aren’t looking at billboards, they aren’t even looking at the freakin’road anymore
According to Gary Vaynerchuk, people aren’t looking at billboards, they aren’t even looking at the freakin road anymore. And even if it happens, and you decide to use a billboard ad with your website address, you better make sure your site is responsive. Because if it’s not, you wasted your money.
Oh yeah, mobile friendly is expensive and good for big companies, I’ll stick to my regular website.
If you think that way, you couldn’t be more wrong. It’s the small business that suffer the most from not having the mobile friendly website. Imagine that you are going on your vacation and your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. You reach for your phone and start looking for good mechanic nearby. Google spits out two repair shops nearby. You tap the first result, you wait a bit until the site loads up – you are in the middle of nowhere after all. When the site finally loaded, you realise that it’s a flash site and you can’t navigate on it to find the contact number. You go back to the search results and try out the second one. This time site loads really fast. Unnecessary elements are hidden and taping on phone number automatically starts the phone mode. Question: which of those two repair shops just gained a customer?
Mobile friendly website doesn’t have to be expensive. If you worry about the cost, it’s a good idea to have it made based on the template. It’s definitely cheaper than the custom made website and as much effective.
Human friendly
Mobile friendly or responsive web design are just words. It’s just a part of something much bigger and far more important – Human Friendly. Don’t forget who is using your website and who are you trying to reach. Let’s be where our customers are. Let’s be accessible in every moment, every time and in the hand reach.