Mobile-Friendly and Adaptive Websites

Since November 2014, Google has been rewarding all mobile-friendly websites with the mention “For mobile.” Users who use Google on their smartphone or tablet and see your website among the search results will know that your website is suitable for mobile, which directly increases the chance that they will click through to your website.

An important element to keep in mind with responsive web design is the use of web forms. Computer users have a keyboard, which allows them to fill in a form in no time since typing is only a small effort. However, smartphone users are not waiting to do a lot of typing. In addition, forms work technically different on many mobile devices and in some cases they even become unusable. You can therefore ask yourself whether it is wise to let smartphone users fill out a web form in the first place. In many cases it is better to offer them an option to send their details per e-mail.

When we talk about the way a device is used and about contextual factors such as time and location, we are not talking about responsive web design anymore. In this case, we are talking about adaptive web design, and although there is often confusion between these 2 terms, adaptive web design simply goes a step further. With adaptive web design, the functionality of your website can also adapt to the user based on the time or location of the visit, and hence allows you to address your visitors even better.

With adaptive web design, you can for example offer your visitors to display the website in their own language, tell them whether their location is eligible for free shipping or show them a timer for how long a certain promotion will continue to run for.