Mobile Site vs. Responsive Design

This blog post focuses on the differences between mobile sites and responsive designs and examines the advantages/disadvantages of both.

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Before reading this blog, ask yourself two questions:

1. Do you want your mobile site to run separately from your current website? or
2. Is it better to build a site that is compatible with desktop PCs and mobile devices?

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Mongoose Metrics in 2012 reported that only 9% of sites are mobile friendly. In another case study, Compuware found that 57% of consumers and web users will not recommend a company if it has a poor mobile site. In fact, 40% of consumers and web users will rather visit the competition to find what they are looking for.

As you begin to process the concept of mobile design, two other sub-concepts pop up: Responsive Design and Mobile Site.  This blog post defines the two terms and examines the advantages/disadvantages.

I. Mobile Sites:

Mobile sites are separate websites that users will see when using a mobile device. The site is formatted for a phone-sized screen and may be hosted under their own subdomain. Visitors are directed to the mobile site once the server detects the user to be a smart phone.

II. Responsive Design:

This does not entail the creation of a separate mobile site. A responsive design has a fluid layout that adapts automatically to different screen sizes.  In other words, content will resize depending on whether you are using a smartphone, tablet, or desktop PC.

III. Advantages/Disadvantages:

	Advantages	Disadvantages
Responsive Design	Use the same code and content on mobile devices and desktop PCs. Creates a fluid screen design that expands, rearranges and sometimes removes content to adapt to different devices and screen sizes Benefits SEO-offers a single responsive site that meets all device needs.	Duplicate content isnecessary at times. Resizing images consumes too much CPU and RAM. Unnecessary codes are not removed and still downloaded; causing the loading speed to slow down.
Mobile Sites	Faster to implement and less expensive to launch. Only necessary information is shown in the reorganized interface.	Only targets one screen size Higher maintenance costs are necessary in the long run. Separate silo of content is needed, separate from the main website.

IV. BusinessMedia:

Be sure to call our Toronto web development team to find out how you can create a separate mobile site for your website.  Those who are building a site for scratch are recommended to consider the advantages of having two separate websites, compatible with mobile devices and desktop PCs. Remember that 97% of consumers take to the internet to find the products and services they are looking for.

 

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