The widespread use of mobile phones for browsing websites has compelled the web developers and designers to create mobile-friendly websites. With a burgeoning mobile phone models and brands with different screen sizes and resolutions, it is quite a challenge to create responsive websites. The most crucial aspect of rendering a website responsive is achieving the desired alignment between the content and the design layout. Unfortunately, many websites do not focus on the way their content is developed and presented on the mobile screen. This can seriously hamper the prospects of the company as people flock to the Internet for content.
People browse websites for content and therefore, it must be ensured that the users are able to access the content in the way they want. The content on the website must adapt to the mobile screen along with the layout so that the content remains legible. To achieve this, the design layout must be fluid and not based on static wireframes and fixed width. Such an approach hampers the design layout to be flexible and fluid. In order to develop content for a mobile-friendly website, you need to be very particular about a lot of factors like optimized images & texts, and smart content management to name a few.
5 Ways to Develop Responsive Content for a Mobile-friendly Website
1. Watch The Content That You Are Serving
It is a good idea to ascertain the kind of content your users might want to see on the mobile website. Assessing the content type and providing it in a presentable manner is the key to the success of the website. In order to do so, you need to ask yourself these questions and try to find the answers to them.
- Does the website offer the products and services the users like to see? Instead of filling the screen with unnecessary information, link to the services and an advanced search box should be provided.
- Is the location provided? Maps should be included to show the exact location and the address.
- Have the alerts through email and text been provided? Such mails and text enhance the conversion rate.
Images can be used for the design layout on mobile screens too as long as they do not increase the loading time of the website and do not degrade the user experience. The design of the website is a cumulative effect of color, images, shapes and typography. All these elements must be used consistently through the design to make the design appear cohesive and natural.
2. Design Should Also Cater To The Tablet Users
Tablets have larger screen than the usual smartphones and hence, the designers may take the liberty of pushing some extra content on the website design that is meant for the website. You may follow an approach to add some extra content to the design layout already created for the smartphones. You can keep the similar layout, which you used for the smartphones. All you need to do is to add content if required. A fluid design layout will ensure that the design adapts to the larger screen of the tablets. However, in case of larger tablets like iPads, larger images might be used to make the design clear and legible. Apart from it, use HTML5 to add videos to the mobile-friendly website because Adobe Flash player is not supported by most of the mobile browsers.
In the recent developments, the web designers have come up with a mock up that focuses on content hierarchy more than the design layout. In this approach, the content elements are given numerical values that help present the content in the best possible way.
3. Use Analytics To Make The Most Of The Content
It can only be assumed how the visitors will make use of your website and what they will do with the website. In order to understand the preferences of the users and drive the mobile traffic, you can utilize tools such as Google Analytics. Such tools also help you learn how the mobile traffic is different from desktop traffic. You can also adapt your content to the mobile browsers and users based on the trends derived using analytic tools.
For instance, if the users on your mobile website are more interested in finding a particular type of content through search box, you can add link to such content in the main menu. This would minimize the need for typing on the touch screen, which can be a clumsy thing to do. The users will also be offered a better UX.
4. Self-Management Have The Content
In order to make the content adaptive, it is advised that it is fed to a system that automatically distributes the content where is should be present. It is a better idea than creating calendars and entering the content at several places. Also, you need to create smarter content and it must link to the products and the services, the users are looking for. This will ensure that the customers are able to understand what they are buying on the website.
5. Text and Images Must Be Structured
Responsive content and design layout always go hand in hand. If any one of them is flawed, it impacts the entire design of the mobile website. Moreover, the content that is posted to the website must be optimized for the small screen of the mobile phones. Also, it should be lightweight to make sure that the website does not take forever to load. The content that you create must be adaptive to the changing dimensions of the web. Responsive design alone cannot guarantee traffic to the mobile website; the content also has to be responsive.
Conclusion
It is quite evident from these points that how important it is to make the content responsive just like the design layout. Content is then reason why people browse the Internet and hence, it must be presented in the best possible way. The points explained in the blog will help the web developers in aligning the responsive content with the responsive design layout of the website.
