If you’ve ever had to develop a website, the terms Responsive Design and Mobile First are probably not unfamiliar to you. And no, they don’t mean the same thing. Although both terms have to do with mobile devices, the way they are created and structured are quite different.
What is Responsive Design?
Responsive Design is a technique for structuring a website's layout, adapted to the sizes and formats in which it is being viewed. In other words, its resolution on smartphones or tablets will maintain the same cohesion and quality regardless of whether the device is accessed via desktop or mobile.
Although it has to do with the appearance of a page, the technique does not only aim to adapt the layout to screens, but also to provide good usability, experience and, above all, full understanding of the website in question.
What is Mobile First?
Mobile First is a project that involves creating websites first for mobile devices, and then adapting them to desktops and other platforms. After all, its name already says “mobile first”. Focused on georgia whatsapp data architecture, this concept emerged because mobile screens have become the main device for users to access websites.
Responsive Design vs Mobile First, Which is Better?
Both methods have many advantages. Below we have selected the main advantages of each one. Check it out!
Advantages of using Responsive Design
reduces bounce rate — the number of users who enter and leave a website decreases when adapted to Responsive Design;
increases sales — although many Brazilians (36% according to the Digital, Social & Mobile 2015 report) still prefer to make purchases via desktops, sales via mobile devices have been growing every day;
easy sharing of information — a person who has a smartphone in their hands, when they like a subject, wants to share it with their network of friends, whether through conversations or social networks, in Responsive Design you have this possibility of sharing;
better ranking on Google — Google favors, in terms of ranking, websites that have versions adapted for Responsive Design.
Advantages of using Mobile First
better ranking on Google — the company announced in March 2018 that ranking on the platform would follow the Mobile First concept, that is, sites that use this technique are better positioned by the search engine;
better user experience — Mobile First ensures a complete, informative and more pleasing experience to the eyes, as developers choose to place the main information to be displayed;
more credibility for users and other brands — since it is an innovative concept, both customers and market competitors will see that the company in question is concerned with providing a better visit and information process to its consumers;
faster and more immediate — on mobile devices everything must be faster to optimize users' time, and that is exactly what a page created with Mobile First does.
Conclusion
After analyzing the main advantages of each, can you see which proposal is best for each type of company? We can conclude that: between responsive and mobile, the mobile version is a great option for portals and websites that have specific systems or functionalities that cannot work in the same way as on desktops.
Responsive design is good for websites that don't have functionality that can be used on large screens. In addition to the content being easier to work with on different devices, no information is lost when changed to certain formats.