You hear a lot these days about how the future is mobile. Let’s face it, the present is mobile too. For businesses and brands, having a mobile web presence is no longer an option. It is a must, and if you want to make the most of it you need to optimize your website for mobile use.
Recently, Wix introduced the HTML5 website builder, allowing users to create beautiful HTML5 websites without coding. One of HTML5’s biggest advantages is that it can be viewed on all devices. Following the release, a lot of users contacted us and asked if we recommend creating a mobile website as well, even though HTML5 websites are mobile-friendly. Many were to surprised to hear a decisive “Yes!” as an answer.
Why is it so important to have a customized mobile website? Because the rules of the mobile game are different than those of PC’s. A website that was created for the full screen was designed for a completely different user experience. Let’s be more specific.
Efficiency: Phone screens are so much smaller than regular computer screens. You have to think carefully how to squeeze in information in a more efficient way than you do on a regular website. You need to reconsider the text style, the spreading of images and the use of links. Put yourself in the visitor’s shoes, ask yourself: “What is the main reason I’m visiting this website?”, and make sure your mobile website is build in a way that responds to this need quickly and easily.
Connectivity: There are different ways to encourage your site visitors to contact you. While contact forms are a rather popular method, they work less well on mobile devices with a touch screen. However, mobile sites offer the opportunity to immediately call or text the website owner. Consider the different ways your audience can get in touch with you and list them in the order that best suits their needs, as well as the nature of your business.
Simplicity: A beautiful background image that might look amazing on a full screen can be a disaster on a mobile website. You need to use design elements that simplify things for your users, not overwhelm them. Simplicity also means reducing loading times by using lighter files and less multimedia. Your mobile users would be grateful for that when dealing with slow connection speeds.
Creativity: If you keep an open mind, you will see how your mobile site can recreate the same effect as your full site, without using as much space and time. For example, adding a touch of yellow to the site’s header will convey vitality and spare you the need to use descriptive texts that send the same message. This is exactly the reason it is important to have a customized mobile site. The process of making a mobile website raises these kind of options, leading you towards optimizing your mobile to the fullest.
Flexibility: The way people consume content on mobile devices is rapidly changing. A mobile website owner should be able to keep up with these changes and quickly adapt to them. The full website, however, remains indifferent to these developments and will eventually be less and less relevant for mobile use.
These key issues show that we can no longer think of full websites and mobile websites in the same terms. Put that together with recent studies that show the speedy expansion of the Smartphone market, and the incredibly fast pace in which new mobile trends are developing, and you’ll understand why it is important to give mobile a serious thought. Even if your HTML5 website absolutely rocks, let it rock on a PC and give millions of mobile users a chance to enjoy your site.
The problem with making mobile sites on Wix is that there mobile templates are very limiting and frankly ugly compared to what we can do with the editor. Having a mobile html editor with mobile resolution sizes and mobile optimized elements would be a great addition.
I agree with your post though. Just because your website can be viewed on mobile devices does not mean they will work or look as good as they could when optimized for the mobile platform.
Hey Designer Guy,
Thanks for the comment. We’re constantly adding more features and new templates to the Wix mobile wizard. We will be introducing more themes and layouts in the near future.
Appreciate the feedback,
Cheers,
Wix Community Team
Great post. I had a mobile site linked to my previous wix flash site. I transferred my premium to HTML5 and I’m happy with the change. Do I have to remake the mobile site or can I somehow copy the mobile site that I made previously?
A beautiful background image that might look amazing on a full screen can be a disaster on a mobile website.
HTML5 of Wix is very beautiful and profesional. Everyone will become a designer wesite. I can’t describe HTML5 of Wix, if you didn’t have, you have to try Wix. Thanks Wix with HTML5.
Thanks for all these key issues. Reading your post made me realize that the pc and mobile sites are two different things and each one should be considered carefully and should be created in a way that will enhance customer satisfaction.
I am definitely going to add HTML5 to my armory, thanks for mentioning it.
Thanks to WIX, I have an e-commerce site that’s nearing completion, and I have started building a mobile site, too. I would like to be able to have customers purchase our products on their mobile devices the same as can be done on the full-size site. I hope that’s in the works. Also, ability to accept some major credit cards would be extremely helpful. I would be willing to pay extra for that. Thanks.
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the feedback! Please help us prioritize by posting your requests on the Wix Wishlist:
http://www.wix.com/support/forum/flash/all-topics#!storyType=WISHLIST
Thanks!
i’m still thinking on should i make one or not because it will spoil the view on Ipad and tablets …..isn’t it cuz havinga mobile view on IPad will be nasty
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Hey guys, thanks for the info.
I love Wix, but have had one major complaint. The mobile sites are just ugly. The HTML5 option has somewhat solved that for me and I am redesigning now.
If the mobile sites could be done more like some sites have, like cloverleaf for example, where they hold true to much of the look and formatting of the main site I think they would be a much more viable option.
Right now the Wix mobile sites just do not do justice to the beautiful sites some of us designers have been able to create. I don’t want more themes, I want a more streamlined flow from my main site to my mobile site.
My other concern is that I am unable to transfer some things from my old premium account like the facebook likes. We have garnished a good number of facebook likes on the flash site, is there no way to transfer those to the HTML5 site when I launch it?
Hi Jeremy,
Thanks for getting in touch.
About your first comment, we appreciate the feedback and will discuss this with the mobile team. We intend to add more customization options to the mobile editor, so there’s reason to expect improvements.
As for your question, Facebook Likes that were generated on your old site were generated per domain name. That means that if you keep the same web address, the number of Likes shouldn’t be affected. If you have any problems with this issue, please contact our support team for more specific help: http://wix.com/support/forum
Thanks!
We would like to put some music in mob.version because it’s a musicians site
Hey Liga,
Thanks for the comment. Please post this request on the Wix Wishlist, which is how we keep in touch with users’ requests:
http://www.wix.com/support/forum/html5/all-topics#!storyType=WISHLIST
Thanks!
Now, this is a really good write up, The basic ground rules have been defined marvellously
A mobile site is handy, as most people have smart phones now, but likewise, it can be very limiting too, particularly since the wix mobile pages do not have a commerce function yet. There is a growing segment of the population who now only have iPads/tablets instead of computers, and since apple mobile products do not support flash, those viewers are entirely locked out of the full site. eCommerce is the sole reason my site exists. If the mobile page cannot offer that, it is more of a detriment than a benefit, IMO…
If i create a traditional site and a mobile site. Is there a way to have the website accessed based in the device? Ie a iphone goes to my mobile and an ipad can go to my traditional page. Using the same url?
Hey gregghead,
All mobile devices will be directed to the mobile website. You might want to create a full HTML5 website if you want tablets to have access to the full website. However, it means that Smartphone users will also be directed to the full website.
http://www.wix.com/html5/now-on-wix
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Wix Blog Team