Techniques for Developing Mobile-Friendly Web Sites

Abstract

The growing use of mobile devices for e-commerce, news, social media, and web search has created a need for mobile-friendly web sites. Mobile sites are designed to accommodate the physical limitations of mobile devices such as small displays, touch screens, and slow download times. Mobile-friendly sites typically display content in a single column formatted to use the full screen width, utilize vertical scrolling, use smaller images, provide larger touch targets such as buttons and links, and utilize space saving navigation techniques. The objectives of this article are to describe the attributes of mobile friendly web sites, overview current popular mobile design techniques, and discuss their strengths and weaknesses.