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Building for MobileBy Erich - January 10, 2017Updating your site, or creating a new website opens up a lot of options. An important consideration is to be mobile compliant. What's the best choice? using a responsive web design, or should you include a separate website for mobile visitors. The following will help you make an educated choice. View Detailed Version |
Mobile vs Responsive
Choosing to use either a mobile version sub-site or a responsive design.|
Consideration |
Responsive |
Mobile Version Sub-Site |
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What is it? |
Design that responds to all devices. Details |
Full website with a mobile version inside a folder. Details |
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Mobile compliance |
Mobile compliant. |
Mobile version is mobile complaint. |
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Responsiveness |
Fully responsive. |
Mobile version is fully responsive. |
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SEO |
Good for mobile ranking. |
Extra pages may be beneficial for SEO. |
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Ease of use |
Restricting and difficult to work with. Includes double the code. |
Two websites must be maintained. |
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Design |
You will have to compromise the design to accommodate all devices. |
Allows for more creative freedom. |
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User experience |
Site will load slower and/or have more limited interaction. |
The mobile version is tailored more for smartphone users. |
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Mobile and desktop |
All webpages must always work on all devices. More testing. |
Includes a site for desktop and a site for smartphones. |
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Speed |
Slower due to extra code. |
Mobile site is specifically designed for speed. |
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Updating an older site |
Media Queries css code can be added for responsiveness. |
The mobile version is "plugged into" an older site as a separate website. |
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Building a new site |
Best if you plan no layout changes. |
Allows a better mobile & desktop experience. |
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Domain |
Uses the top level domain. |
Uses the top level domain but inside a "mobile" folder. |
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Our clever analogy |
It's like having a kitchen device that works both as a toaster and a blender. |
It's like having two cars and two custom fit garages. |
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Future considerations |
Should be compliant for many years. |
Mobile version is also responsive and compliant. |
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Our findings |
We were able to make an older website pass the Google mobile friendly test by adding some Media Queries. |
Pagespeed Insights may rate low if the webpage has many images. |
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Conclusion |
Best choice for smaller sites and if you stay with the default webpage layout. |
Best choice for larger sites and to target desktop and mobile separately. |
Web TemplateSolutions |
 View Responsive Web templates |
 Websites With Mobile Sub-Sites |
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Consideration |
Responsive |
Mobile Version Sub-Site |
