Saw this on Twitter this afternoon:
If you were wondering how pathetic the iPad app market is…Phraseology sold 8 units yesterday and jumped into the Productivity top 100.
— Greg Pierce (@agiletortoise) November 6, 2014
Whilst the demand for creating apps hasn’t waned (I still get asked about them often), I continue to hear stories of just how few apps are actually being downloaded. I last wrote about the decline of apps in January and things were looking grim then.
So I repeat: you probably don’t need an app – but you do need to address mobile. Use of the web via phones and tablets is continuing to grow.
Since we first started building responsive websites in late 2010 we’ve seen a number of trends and best practices emerge (and we’ve seen some pretty poor attempts as well!). Optimising your website for mobile involves more than shifting content around to fit the narrower screen.
Consider:
- How does your site menu behave? Can you touch the items easily? Does it get in the way?
- Does your site have search? How is that interaction?
- Are there contact forms on your website? Try using them on your phone.
- How about just being able to click your phone number and have it put the number in your dialler?
Think about the things that annoy you when using the web on your phone, and make sure your website isn’t falling into the same traps.
Far smarter to get that right than look at the latest gimmick. The mobile web is here to stay. (At least for the next decade!)