We have seen a lot of Web Developers and designers are now working into a mobile-first approach. This method is necessarily used for commonly and highly accessible smart phones. However this approach has more to offer in terms of the process.
Mobile First Approach is designing the content, layout and navigation of the website for a mobile device before designing the version for the Desktop at a much wider screen. The main objective of this method is to consider a much less real estate displays of mobile devices compared to a much larger desktop screen. By doing this, you can concentrate more on the content rather than giving more weight on the graphics or visual designs.
The main priority in this approach is to have a website that can be ideally responsive with a good content for smart phone users. But this does not mean that you are going to take for granted the visual design. You just have to take into consideration the hierarchy of the demand of users based on their preferred gadgets. Nowadays a good balance of content, visual design plus the mobile-first approach with a responsive user experience are the main ingredients in creating a successful site.
Is it a must, to do a mobile-first approach?
The answer will always be depending on the type of website and how it is being used. In mobile, you are more of seeing the content than that much of the visual design and graphics. However, content is not just the text and information. It also includes pictures and other features which pertain on how the user gets the information in the most responsive manner especially when they are using their mobile devices.
By the end of 2015, analyst believed that mobile traffic will surpass the desktop traffic in terms of accessing websites. Web designer should start considering the points on how they can improve the site and make it easier for mobile user to navigate and get information from their designed sites. The keyword should be “Website Versatility”. A way in which user can easily access and navigate the site in the variety of devices they want to use, whether it’s a mobile, a tablet or in a Desktop.
Change is really inevitable especially in technology, we just have to adapt to the current situation to survive and be in sync. What is happening in web design right now is not just a trend that will gradually be extinct in few years time. Content and design would always be the heart and soul of every web design. What designers would have to do is to balance these ingredients to come up with a site which is accessible to a mobile browser as well as good and as responsive for Desktop users.