Some years ago, most people depended on their desktop computers to carry out various activities online. Therefore, user interface designers and web developers mostly design a website fully for a desktop device and later point out ways of scaling it down to give the mobile view. But today, a lot of people now depend on their mobile devices to carry out their online activities. Therefore, making your websites and intranets mobile-friendly and responsive can be an efficient way of improving the productivity of your site.
The increase in the population of mobile device users has made web designers reconsider the mobile first design approach. With the wide range of mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones, it is ideal to design a simple, nonetheless, full experience on devices with smaller screen resolutions. And afterwards, develop it for devices that have larger screen resolutions. In this article, we will be telling you about the mobile first design and some of its advantages. Since that is why you are here, just read further.
What you should know about the mobile first design approach
Mobile first design is as easy as it sounds. However, it can be quite complicated when it is to be put into action. This method requires a rethink of the process of your design, and this decision can be quite tricky to make. The mobile-first design is an approach that was defined by Luke Wroblewski. It is an approach in responsive design where you have to first design for smaller screens, and later add more content and features to for devices with bigger screen resolutions.
Regarding the development of an active website, a mobile-first design is a primary way of creating a responsive design. In the process of developing a website, the degree of responsiveness of the website can determine how efficient the website will be. This is because the responsiveness of your site can provide your customers with a broader range of new opportunities. You need to consider the mobile first design when you need to design where the contents will be positioned, and how your customers will relate to the contents.
It is possible to have many contents and various concepts of how the contents will be conveyed to your customers and users. Therefore, it is imperative that you begin small and start with a mobile design layout. After that, you can start to include more options, and information
Click here to know 5 golden rules of responsive web design
Importance of mobile-first design
It is crucial to consider the use of the mobile-first design as it is possible to potentially brawl to reduce or remove some options when you have designed with too much space. This can result in leaving out some vital contents which will reduce the level of your user experience. Also, the display on a screen with a smaller resolution can be too jam-packed, and this will also affect the user’s experience. Nonetheless, if you start with the mobile first design and reduce the information down to the starting of the design page, it will be easier for you too, later on, include more features as the space on the screen increases.
Advantages of mobile first design
Mobile-first design has a lot of benefits. Below are some of the advantages of designing with the mobile-first design:
It is easier on the pocket than making particular mobile apps
You have an option to develop a specific mobile app for every mobile device. But it requires a lot of time, and effort to achieve that. And you will also need to be updating each mobile app. But with mobile-first design, you don’t have to consider each mobile device and desktop users separately. In essence, you are building a website that by design displays the web contents the best way it can on any screen resolution.
In a situation where the website has a more extensive space view, it is more efficient to make use of bigger images. But when you have to view the web page on a smaller screen resolution, you will want the picture to reduce to a lesser thumbnail form. The moment you begin to resize your browser window, you will be able to adjust the design. The content is resized when you reduce the window, and you can see a new flow in how they are presented.
Improves the mobile productivity of your organisation
When you design a website with the mobile first design approach, you tailor the interface of the site towards the satisfaction of the people who rely on their mobile devices to carry out different enquiries online. For example, sales reps mostly make use of their mobile devices when they are moving along the road as it will be difficult for them to operate their laptops, and desktop computers while walking. And as the number of people making use of their mobile devices for various online activities increase, you can improve your organisation’s productivity with the use of the mobile-first design. It ensures that the web’s smaller-format versions are not just cropped experiences.
Aids content priority
When you commence your web design with the mobile first design approach, it helps in considering your content, and the functionality of the content. And this is very important. The small screens and upright display on various mobile devices help you to make sure that you make right decisions in the hierarchy of the content and eliminate unnecessary information. With this, space will not just be filled up with irrelevant options and information. For instance, when a user visits a website, what are the things they should first see? And are they coherent enough? These are the things the designer should think about.
Conclusion
Mobile first design is a way of improving the experience of mobile devices users. The functionality helps to regulate, and automate the process of displaying contents and images on various mobile devices. And this makes responsive design easier for the content developers. Good Luck!