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Responsive Design vs. Mobile Websites

Hello, it’s Kelsey here from Digital eMspace. Today I want to show you the difference between a desktop site, a mobile site, and a responsive site. I know you’ve probably seen all three before, but you may not have noticed the differences. Or, you may not have related the differences to your own business’ website.

Desktop Websites

First I’m going to show you a non-responsive website, also known as a desktop site.

As the name suggests, this version of a website is meant to be viewed from a desktop or laptop only. Desktop sites are seen as outdated as they have not formed to modern technology. This makes it surprising to know that BestBuy has a desktop site. Let’s go ahead and look at their desktop site on my iPhone.

As you can see, it’s very difficult to see the small words, and worse, try to click on any links. You have to zoom in and swipe from side to side to read or be able to touch a link with your finger. Additionally, it’s difficult to find the navigation bar once you’re zoomed in so far.

Desktop sites, or unresponsive sites, make it extremely difficult for a user to navigate on a mobile device and often times leaves the user so frustrated with the experience, they leave. You are then, giving your competitors the opportunity to retain these customer with a better experience than you could provide.

Mobile Websites

Let’s turn our attention to a mobile site.

Although BestBuy has a non-responsive site for their desktop users, they also have a mobile site for their mobile users. When you visit bestbuy.ca on your mobile device, you’re automatically taken to the mobile version of their site. A mobile site is great for searching for products and shopping online.

A mobile site is good for someone like BestBuy who has a large inventory of products available for online purchase. Ensure, however, that you provide every available option for a positive experience purchasing and navigating on your mobile site to ensure you don’t lose customers through a poor experience.

Responsive Websites

Lastly, I want to show you a responsive site.

Responsive design is our specialty. Let’s take a look at one of our client’s websites: separation.ca. The great thing about a responsive site is that it’s using the same website url as your desktop users would see. Therefore, there is no information that a mobile user couldn’t find on a desktop. All the information is the same, it’s just adjusted to fit the screen size.

As you scroll down you can see the button that allows you to quickly and easily navigate to the top of the website where you can use the navigation bar to take you to another page in the site, like the family law videos, for example. Here you can click on a family law category, select a video you’d like to watch, click play, and the video opens up just as it would in YouTube.

Responsive design makes it easy for clients to click on links, scroll throughout, and have a full and effective experience with your site.

They can even click on your social media links to follow your social profiles, click to call you or send you an email, or gps the directions to your office right from their mobile device. Your potential clients can quickly and intuitively get in contact with you with the touch of a finger.

Get your Website Responsive for 2015

If you don’t yet have a responsive website, you need to contact us right away. The longer you put it off, the more customers you’re deterring from your website, and ultimately, the more potential sales your losing. Call us at 519-650-3153 or email us at info@emspace.ca to start your proposal for online success.

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