Although Mobilegeddon came and went, the question still remains for website owners who have yet to take the mobile plunge, "What is the best way for me to make my website mobile friendly?" There are actually several approaches and the best way for you, depends on where you are starting and where you want to end up.
A New Web Design: If several years have passed since you designed your website, it may be the perfect time to redesign and "kill two birds with one stone" as they say, or maybe even three.
Pros: A new, modern web design would be, by default, mobile friendly. You could also use the opportunity to rethink your design aesthetic, content, and choice of CMS. You'd come out the other end of the project with a brand new web solution, one that if done well, will serve you for many years to come.
Cons: The cost and risk of a complete redesign may not be worth it. You may be better off addressing mobile only, and not get caught up in a bigger project.
Rebuild Using Your Current Design: It may not be worth jettisoning your current web design, but it could be a great opportunity to upgrade your CMS, while implementing a mobile solution. A CMS can become obselete and some older platforms don't support the modern frameworks that make a mobile solution fairly straightforward.
Pros: By taking on two faulty components of your web solution at once, you stand the chance of increasing your overall return on investment, while keeping your risk fairly low. As long as you work with a qualified web vendor, the odds are high that for a relatively low investment, you'll receive back a virtually brand new website, with years of service rebuilt into it.
Cons: Unless you're certain your current CMS needs to go, investing in a new, yet possibly unneeded upgrade could add unnecessary risk and cost to your project.
Implement a Mobile Solution Only: Redesigning your website just to implement a mobile solution is in many cases unnecessary. Technically, a mobile solution can be implemented simply by porting your design theme over to a mobile framework, such as Bootstrap - although additional work is almost always necessary. A qualified web vendor should be able to explain to you why your web design does or does not fit into a mobile framework and provide workable solutions, should you decide to go this route.
Pros: Porting a web design over to a mobile framework is quite simple and cost effective. Risk is low, as well, since you are dealing with just one aspect of your website and the outcome will be obvious in a fairly short period of time.
Cons: Your current design or CMS may not play well with a mobile framework, potentially increasing the cost of implementation. Also, missing an opportunity to upgrade your web design and underlying technology may mean you end up investing in a short term solution.
Avatar New York is an innovating, award-winning New York web design firm dedicated to providing clients with responsive websites that help grow brands and convert visitors to customers. With an expertise in web development, branding, cloud hosting, mobile app development, and CMS and e-commerce solutions, Avatar New York's top tier designers have the ability to create intelligent websites for any type of business.