One of the most common problems I encounter in the course of my work is the issue of optimizing for mobile. If app-makers don’t optimize their site for mobile before using our service, the apps don’t look professional, the spacing is wrong, the sizing is wrong, and the apps get poor rankings in Google Play.
A few weeks ago, Rachel Pasqua posted an article on mobile website optimization. Her analysis of the options is quite thorough, and an excellent read. My goal here isn’t to cover the territory she already covered, but to give you the specific names of services and how their options work.
I’m Building A New Website On My Own Domain. How Do I Make It Mobile-Friendly?
If you don’t have a website, then building something that’s mobile-friendly from the get-go is likely your best option. Most sites today are built using a CMS (content management system) such as WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal.
For each of those systems, there are plugins which can make the site mobile-friendly with a few clicks here and there. Personally, I’m a big fan of WordPress as a CMS, and a plugin like WPtouch is a great way to make a WordPress site work well for mobile. Joomla’s Mobile extension is a good way to make your Joomla site mobile. Drupal’s Mobile Plugin is great for Drupal developers.
To build a site without a CMS, you have a few options. Creating a site with Responsive Design requires a good knowledge of both HTML and design, and takes quite a lot of patience and time. A good guide to the basics of responsive design is available on HTML 5 Rocks. Another option is to use a tool like Gridless as the basic CSS on a website. It’ll ‘bake-in’ the responsive design.
How Do I Make A Mobile-Friendly Site For Free?
There are a lot of good options for making a mobile-friendly site for free. My personal favorite is Google Sites. The mobile site design works, and building a site with Google Sites doesn’t require a lot of technical know-how. You choose a template, choose some colors, add your text, and the mobile site is ready for action.
If the site you’re planning on building is a blog, then WordPress.com offers free hosting with many of the benefits of a hosted WordPress site. To make it mobile, you’ll need a mobile theme.
Blogger gets a bad reputation, because there are fewer plugins, and it’s harder to customize than WordPress, but it’s a no-fuss solution.
Tumblr is another blogging platform that just works. To make it mobile-friendly, follow these instructions from tumblring.
I Have A Site, And I Want It To Stay The Same. How Can I Have A Mobile Site, Too?
GoMo and DudaMobile are two widely-used tools that take your web content and style and turn it into a mobile site. GoMo is powered by DudaMobile, so you won’t see huge differences between the two, and you’ll need to look at specific plans to see which one is a better fit for your website.
WixMobile and Mobify are options that work on a freemium model, so you may end up paying later on if you need better service. Again, they’re a quick way to get your site mobile and be sure it works correctly.
With the tremendous increase in mobile traffic online, it’s really crucial to make sure that you have a website that answers the needs of your mobile users. There are new services cropping up every day, and I’m certain I’ve left out some excellent options. Leave a comment to let me know how you’ve made your website mobile-friendly.
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