7 Best Practices for Designing a Mobile User Experience

Originally published at: http://www.sitepoint.com/7-best-practices-designing-mobile-user-experience/

In the last 3 years desktop Internet usage has fallen from 90% to 60%, while mobile usage has increased to 40%.Following this trend, mobile devices are set to upstage desktop Internet access soon. Very soon.

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The default approach used by many designers when designing for a mobile device is still to scale down their (desktop) website and make it responsive. This approach is a poor strategy for mobile design. Rather than just scaling down a site, you need to examine your client's business and asses the importance of mobile access for their particular business.

If your client’s customers are primarily desktop/laptop users – for example, enterprise level access to a tool that will only be accessed from workstations – then you don’t need to bother about mobile access. But if your client wants an online store or provides localized information depending on where customers are – then you’re better off using a mobile first design approach. To reach the largest number of people and grow your (client’s) business, your website needs to work well when accessed from a range of devices. So take the effort to first sketch out your mobile web strategy.

The challenge in designing for mobile devices is that they come in so many variants, sizes and flavors. Much like Browsers during the great Browser wars of the 1990's!

In the interest of a better, more intuitive and user friendly mobile experience, let’s take a closer look at some of the best practices to keep in mind for mobile designs:

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