Mobile is fast becoming the go-to device for getting on the information superhighway. Mobile web browsing has already overtaken desktop web browsing. This makes creating an exemplary user experience on the mobile form factor all the more important. The old school approach was to fit the desktop design onto the mobile platform and somehow make it responsive. But today it needs more than that and this is where mobile user experience gains immense prominence. Here we discuss some of the reasons why user experience matters for mobile more than ever.

The mobile interface is different from a desktop interface is an understatement. On the mobile the experience is very personal. It is more intuitive and the experience has to be absolutely user friendly.

It’s all about User Experience

People spend a lot of time on the mobile devices. It is used for everything from booking flight tickets to shopping to getting directions to watching videos to playing games. But the biggest constraint is different phones in different screen sizes. This makes it tough to search, tap on a link or navigate. So the screen space has to be used judiciously and it has to be as clutter-free as possible. Ensure that the users can find what they are looking for without any hassles.

Your content has to be neat, clear and focused. The message should be articulated in such a way that it should engage the user. Minimalism is very important and it has to be adhered to at all times. The layouts that you create have to be fluid. In simple words, you need to create proportional dimensions for the blocks that contain the various attributes like video, graphics, image or text. This lets the pages to seamlessly expand or minimize as per the device form factor.

Another important reason why UX design is different on a mobile device is that the interface is haptic. This calls for a different approach than a desktop wherein the input device is basically a cursor controlled by a mouse. The various links, buttons and forms have to be designed in such a manner that they can accommodate a touch gesture without causing overlap with the adjoining elements.

The mobile network speed for a mobile device is always on the slower side. So the pages should load faster in order to keep the users on your website. This can be achieved using optimized images along with simple and light coding.

The desktop has just a fixed orientation and that is by default the landscape mode. But for mobile the users can seamlessly switch between the landscape and the portrait modes. Therefore, an extra care has to be taken to ensure your pages do not lose out on their visual bearing upon switching from one mode to another. As far as possible try to avoid horizontal scrolling for your mobile sites since it is cumbersome to do so with one finger.

Making User Experience better for Mobiles

• Sensors like Gyrometers can be utilized effectively for a more interactive experience
• “Tap to call” can be incorporated instead of displaying your phone number
• It’s possible to provide real-time location-based services thanks to the mobile GPS
• Scanning of barcodes and QR codes is a distinct possibility with a mobile device
• Mobile Apps are the way forward on the mobile phones for creating user ‘aha moments’.

The future is definitely moving towards a ‘mobile first’ world. Is your brand ready to take the mobile world by storm is the million dollar question you need to ask today!