Is There a Difference Between a Mobile Website and a Responsive Design?

Considering that mobile devices (excluding tablets) account for about half of the web traffic worldwide, having a website that displays your content properly when viewed on a mobile phone is no longer a choice for businesses in Winnipeg, MB. It is a necessity. When it comes to mobile-ready web design, you can choose between two different approaches: responsive websites and mobile websites. Although you may think they are the same, there are significant variations between a mobile website and a responsive website.

What is a Mobile Website?

A mobile website is a distinct website from the main site, with content and functionality specifically designed for mobile devices. Mobile websites often live under a different URL or domain name (e.g., m.website.com). When a user visits your website on a mobile phone, they are redirected to your website’s mobile version, which is just a small subset of what is available on the desktop version. Most mobile-dedicated websites also allow users to switch between the mobile and desktop versions at their discretion.

What is a Responsive Website?

While mobile sites are designed and developed specifically for the smaller screens of mobile devices, a responsive website design contains the same features or content for smartphones, tablets and desktops, but rearranges them based on the screen size of the device your users are using. In other words, a responsive website dynamically adjusts the layout of the site to be best suited for viewing on your users’ browsing device.

Which is Best For You?

Whether dedicated sites are better than responsive sites or the other way around is an ongoing debate amongst website design agencies in Winnipeg. Mobile specific sites typically load faster, and have less overall content than the main website, however, this is by design to get users to a conversion goal faster, such as buying products or services. Responsive web design in Winnipeg tackles the design by offering full content and feature parity (at least to some extent) across the multitude of devices with different screen sizes. In the end, one thing is for sure: mobile technology is not going anywhere anytime soon, so offering your Winnipeg business website with mobile support is a must regardless of which route you take.

Professional Website Design Services in Winnipeg

As a leading web design company in Winnipeg, Dynamite Design can help you create a responsive website that delivers an optimal user experience across all devices. Give us a call at 204-299-3818 or contact us online to learn more about what our website design services can do for your business.