The Marriage Between Mobile and Desktop Website Versions

In 2013, every web designer knows the importance of the mobile web to reach the biggest potential audience. More people are browsing the web on their mobile phones than their desktops or laptops. Mobile websites are essentially a copy of the full desktop version, but a more compact and streamlined version. They have little to no images and vertical drop down navigation so that they load quickly on mobile network connections. Of course, mobile websites are not a replacement for desktop websites; one exists with the other. How do you create a good “marriage” between your full website and your mobile website?

One effective way to connect the two is to include a link on your mobile website called “View Full Site”, where the user can click to view the full version of your website on their mobile device. This will allow visitors on the mobile web to see details not included on your mobile site—full photo galleries, social media links, blogs, and extensive resources. While this is commonly placed below all the other links on the mobile navigation bar, it can also be placed in the header next to the logo. For viewers that want to go directly to the full site for whatever reason, this will make it easy for them and potential customers appreciate anything that makes browsing your site easier. Because visitors will be doing a lot of vertical scrolling, give them a hand by providing “back to top” links at the bottom of mobile pages. 

Another idea is to have the most action-oriented page links listed at the top. For example, a hotel’s full website may have a home, company history, gallery of photos of their location, a link to their restaurant, and etc, followed by “Book a Room”, “Cancel a Reservation” and “Contact Us” as buttons or pages near the end of the navigation. Consider placing these at the top and follow them with links to your other page content. That way, if customers already have a specific goal in mind, they can “get in and get out”, increasing their chances of using your services.

On the desktop version of your custom website, refer your mobile site in some way, at least mentioning that you have one. First time visitors will be glad to know your website is available to them no matter what device they are using. So what about tablets? While they are in between large screen and small screen resolutions, most tablets can accommodate the desktop version of the website—do a few tests to see what version of your site works best on tablets.

Beyond Custom Websites is knowledgeable and experienced in creating mobile websites, marrying the content and functionality of your desktop and mobile site, and what makes each of these versions effective. Our team of web developers and business experts come together with our customers to create a website that is a unique representation of your business. We’ve worked with business owners in almost every industry and we can’t wait to work with yours. Find out what we’re all about and contact us to get started.