Truly Frightening Mobile Mistakes (that we don’t make)
We’ve been harping on about mobile design and mobile friendly websites for some time now. Google has repeatedly provided information via their developers website..https://developers.google.com about upcoming changes to the algorithm, which over time have all leaned towards ensuring websites with decent mobile experience for the user are positioned where they should be; above those that deliver a poor experience.
This weeks blog draws attention to a selection of horrific and downright ghastly common mistakes some webmasters make when designing for mobile.
You can view the full straight-from-the-horses-mouth version here.
Here are the common mistakes as illustrated by Google, that we ensure we never fall foul of.
Unplayable Content
There are certain types of video content that require flash or other players that are not broadly supported on mobile devices, so when these videos are shown on mobile, the user gets a less than satisfactory experience.
The user will instead get a message of this type.
Google deams this to be poor mobile experience and indeed it is.
We ensure all the media on our mobile friendly websites are supported across multiple software and devices. Our designers are well versed in HTML5 which Google recommends to render a seamless video experience.
Faulty Re-directs
For those sites with a separate mobile site, accurate re-direction is required as per the image below.
If your current set up sends all desktop pages to the mobile page of the website then this is inaccurate. If you have a desktop site, whose URL’s are dynamically generated and with URL parameters that don’t map well to the equivalent mobile, then again this is falling foul of Googles preferred level of user experience on mobile.
Using tools to iron out the redirects is advised. We can easily assess the damage and cure all redirect ailments. Google suggests “using responsive web design”, which is our preferred and advised mobile method for web design.
Mobile-Only 404’s
If your desktop page works on desktop but shows an error page for mobile users, your annoying users and annoying Google.
We make sure the mobile experience is paramount in our website design. With responsive web design, this issue is mitigated.
Avoid Interstitial’s
Just in case….
Your valuable pop up that brings a nice call to action on the desktop might be completely covering the mobile screen, meaning the user can’t get out of the pop up. These normally occur as the websites own app option, a mailing list sign-up form, or advertisement. Whatever it is, Google wants you to use it with care.
We would use a simple banner, or other call to actions that don’t run the risk of annoying the user.
Irrelevant Cross Links
Watch closely the links between your website desktop and desktop optimised versions to mobile versions. We’d recommend tidying it all up with responsive design.
Slow Mobile Pages
Site speed, for desktop or mobile, is an important ranking factor. We take site speed seriously and ensure all is done to make the mobile versions of website run quickly; which is just what your users are looking for.
Set your Viewport Correctly
Across your design, the centre viewpoint of the screen should be attributed correctly. Sensible and detailed scaling when designing for mobile is essential, otherwise your website runs the risk of looking a bit worse for wear on certain device types. Our designers live and breath relative width and position values for CSS elements, which is handy as Google advises these are used to combat this issue.
Small Font Size
It’s easy to assume that all your users have twenty-twenty vision, but no-one likes to squint or pinch to be able to read the text more easily. Design and size of the font is an important aspect of the whole website design, mobile and desktop.
Touch Elements Too Close
There is always a temptation to throw everything on the mobile page, often resulting in over crowding, making it impossible for even the most nimble fingered of your users. We make sure all touch elements and call to actions are equally spaced with a few tips from Google .
To avoid these highly avoidable pitfalls in mobile design, call Dental Design on 01202 677277.
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