What is Mobile First?
The meaning of Mobile First Design can be understood from its name: a design designed for mobile first.
You probably know that a website should be designed for different screen sizes, such as desktop design, mobile design, tablet design, etc. so that users with any platform and Wi-Fi can view the website well. This concept in web design is called Responsive Design, which you must familiarize yourself with to understand the concept of Mobile First. The following article will guide you on the mobile-first approach or mobile-first design.
If designing pages for mobile is the designer’s priority at the beginning of the design, they are called Mobile First Design. In this way, the website designer must first consider the layout of pages for smaller screen sizes, first design the smallest size, and then expand the design to larger carriers.
Mobile First website design is an approach in that the website design considers the design priority for mobile users and makes all efforts for smaller and larger dimensions in a way different from the initial design done for mobile. It was to be built. The same thing means that the priority of beauty and implementation of UI and proper UX is more important for mobile visitors.
Finally, if a website is well designed, it should display in all sizes for all types of devices. Both in mobile phones, which have the smallest screen width, and then in desktops or tablets, as well as larger dimensions such as laptops and larger monitors, which have larger widths. In the past, a site was designed for desktops and large monitors, and the site designer tried his best to standardize that design for smaller devices. As we mentioned earlier, it was designed responsively.
Design first for mobile.
This type of design contrasts with Desktop First Design, where websites are designed for desktop screens and optimized for smaller screens using programming techniques.
Currently, in the world, the Mobile First approach and method, on the contrary, requires the site designer from the beginning; regardless of the oversized dimensions used on the desktop, a complete design should be well implemented in a small size. If it is suitable and has a good plan and completion, it should be completed gradually toward larger dimensions and screens.
Why should we use the Mobile First plan?
As you know, more and more people are using smartphones every year. Statista’s statistical chart, which is valid, shows the users using smartphones from 2016 to 2020. These statistics are also available for 2021, and by referring to this website, you can get forecast statistics 2022. Also, see
Why should we use the Mobile First plan?
The fact that the use of smartphones is increasing every day and a significant percentage of websites are viewed only with mobile phones is one of the reasons for the popularity of Mobile First design, every year more and more users are switching to smartphones, and this allows them to do their searches with the help of the same mobile phone. Therefore, the number of visitors to your site via mobile increases yearly.
Since 2012, sales of smartphones have exceeded sales of laptops. Mobile users also spend more time browsing the web. All this makes the web designer move towards Mobile First Design.
The difference between Mobile First Design and Desktop First Design in the code
Page size doesn’t matter much when writing HTML or server-side programming languages because CSS defines how each HTML tag is displayed in each view.
Let’s go to the code to understand more. Suppose you want to give a different color to the background on mobile and desktop screens. The following code snippet is used in the Mobile First design:
// This piece of code will be applied from 0px to 600px
body { background: red; }
// This piece of code will be applied from 600px onwards
{@media (min-width: 600px)
body { background: green; } }
In the code above, we considered the red color for the background. Then, on screens larger than 600 pixels, we change the background color to green. Therefore, in this approach, it was an initial plan for mobile. Now pay attention to the following code snippet.
body { background: green; }
// This piece of code will be applied from 0px to 600px
{@media (max-width: 600px)
body { background: red; }}
In the code above, we first selected green color for the background. Then on the mobile screen, we set the stage to read. This means it was initially designed for a desktop style, contrasting with the Mobile First design.
Of course, this is a straightforward and non-operational example; the complexities that exist in website design and are faced by a web designer can be site navigation or product list, image sliders, news and articles, and more complex sections. Like the site header or footer, it should be challenging. In some cases, the design suitable for mobile is very different from the design that is done for the desktop, and it will be challenging for a web designer to get all the situations well.
Another benefit of focusing on Mobile First design is that Google has used its algorithms to pay more attention to mobile-friendly websites. Of course, this habit is due to need, and users have created this need. So, while getting organic traffic from search engines is essential for most businesses to succeed, considering Google’s algorithm prioritises benefits for your SEO and business growth; you should understand this new approach before designing your website. Ask your website designer for this.
In the distant past, having a responsive site was considered an advantage, and Google liked responsive sites more, but the new approach has made this requirement a requirement. In the search console, you can also see signs of the advantages of Mobile First design; being mobile-friendly is one of the critical technical issues, and if there is a problem with the mobile display, Google will show you an error and ask you to fix this immediately. Fix the problem.
Conclusion
Being mobile-friendly may be an advantage now, but it will be mandatory shortly, like being responsive, so design your sites mobile-first.