9 Things to Remember When Designing a Mobile Site

One of the best practices that any QR code marketer would tell you is to create a landing page that is optimized for mobile phones if you are going to take your scanners to an URL or website.

It’s a known fact that more than 30% of all mobile phone users in the world have used their phones to browse the Internet.  Mobile is earmarked by many as an exciting marketing channel, because we have more people-on-the-go now more than ever.

So how do you build a mobile website?

1. Brush up on mobile standards set up by the World Wide Web Consortium.  It is necessary to know the standards for mobile pages, as this will save you time when it comes to the testing stage.  The more you adhere to standards, the more your page will look right on various mobile phones, platforms, and screen sizes.  Look it up here: http://www.w3.org/Mobile/

2. The easiest way to build a mobile site is to take your current Web page and strip it down.  If you have great content on your current site, there is no sense in creating a new one.  But to have it look good on mobile phone screens, you should strip it down.  This means that you may need to change the layout, eschew some of the unnecessary graphics and basically make use of small graphics.

3. Avoid scrolling.  Some mobile phones may not be scrolling-friendly, so avoid a mobile site where in you would need to scroll from left to right.  Also, having a user scroll from left to right lessens your page’s readability.

4. Use variable widths, rather than fixed widths, so that your page automatically adjusts to the size of the mobile phone screen.  

5. Avoid tables.  Tables can be a headache when it comes to mobile optimization.

6. This is where the prime area got more valuable.  Make sure that your most important information is placed at the top and to the left of the screen.

7. Use cookies, drop down lists and radio buttons.  Make your mobile site more user friendly by minimizing the amount of text input your users would have to do.  If you have a form on site, make use of drop down lists, radio buttons and similar elements.  Make everything clickable if possible.

8. Make sure each page is below 20 kb.

9. Test, test and test!  Don’t just publish your mobile page without testing it.  Be sure to test your page on as many phones as possible, concentrating on smartphones such as iPhones and Android phones.