We have crossed the tipping point. Today a majority of web page views come from mobile devices. The ease of access of cellphones and tablets coupled with the ubiquity of Wi-Fi and cellular network coverage, means that more and more users are spending time their time online on mobile devices. These users expect a good experience on their mobile devices and this is how we can give it to them.

Developing for All Mobile 

Mobile use is a broad category which encompasses cellphones and tablets, all of which have different screen sizes and operating systems. When building a mobile application or mobile website, it is best to ensure that your application supports all devices.

Mobile applications should use responsive design which automatically resizes and arranges content based on the screen size. Responsive design lets you deliver content to a variety of devices based on the screen size. All the images and web page elements are aligned correctly, making the website as a whole look good. Mobile device rules can be incorporated to deliver content to specific devices.

Developing Mobile Apps 

Remember all those mobile users from the beginning of this blog? 80% of their time spent on their mobile devices is on mobile apps and just 20% on mobile browsers. Having a mobile app will allow users to quickly access your application, and may also lead to returning users.

Developing a mobile application can be done smoothly by leveraging existing mobile SDKs (Software Development Kit). Using a mobile SDK would lead to a faster development cycle and it would ensure that your mobile app is consistent with your web app.

Developing in Sync with your Desktop Application 

When developing a website, it is a good idea to select a platform that supports mobile websites out of the box. Then, once the desktop version is built, the mobile one is automatically ready and can be deployed to production. Additional mobile development can be done but this isn’t strictly necessary. 

These are just a few tips to transition to mobile. If you don’t have a mobile experience for your application now might be a great time to start building one. The tools are out there to make a rapid, effective and successful transition to mobile.