In this Article I will answer these question.
How to Make Your WordPress Site Mobile Friendly?What makes WordPress themes mobile-friendly?
How to check if your
WordPress site is mobile friendly?
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Mobile-friendly WordPress themes work as well on mobile devices as they do on desktop browsers. There are two factors important to better mobile functionality. First, mobile-friendly themes are responsive. This means that the layout and appearance of the page adjusts to best suit the width of the screen.
Does your website display well on mobile devices? Or have you never asked this question? Look and see for yourself.
Recently, the ways of accessing information have changed dramatically.
With the rise of mobile technology, we are spending more time on our mobile
devices, reading the news on the go, browsing interesting websites and even
shopping.
Where we used to use our computers, we now perform these tasks on our
smartphones and tablets. In fact, a SimilarWeb report states that 56% of all
web traffic comes from mobile devices, and StatCounter data shows that mobile
devices and tablets are now getting more usage than desktops.
Another interesting statistic comes from an IBM report that shows the
growth in mobile e-commerce sales over the holiday season. Add to that fact a
Google announcement from back in 2015 saying that Google considers mobile
usability when ranking sites, and you can see why it's important to have a site
that's mobile-friendly.
Before checking if your site is
mobile friendly, it's always a good idea to know exactly how much traffic
you're getting from mobile devices. The easiest way to do this is to use Google
Analytics. All you have to do is sign in to your Google Analytics account and
select the appropriate web property for your site. From the left menu, select
"Mobile" and then "Browse". You will be able to see how
many visitors come from desktop, mobile and tablet devices.
Google Mobile
Friendly Test
The first tool comes from Google and is very easy and convenient to use.
Open your browser, go to Google Friendly Test and enter your website URL, then click
"Test Page". After a brief analysis*, it will tell you if your site
is mobile friendly or not. If your site is mobile friendly, you'll get a green
message letting you know.
* For some reason, my site has
never passed such a check, although others write that everything is fine)))
Screenfly
The second tool, Screenfly, is a bit more reliable. While Screenfly won't
give you tips on how to make your site mobile-friendly or point out any errors,
it will let you see how your site looks on a variety of screen sizes, including
smartphones, tablets, and even TVs.
The usefulness of this tool is that your site may have a responsive
design, but there may be elements on your site that do not display properly.
The last tool is MobileTest.me. This tool allows you to select a specific
mobile device and after entering your website URL, you can see how your website
looks on that particular device. What makes this tool different from the other
two is that you can interact with your website as if you were viewing it from
that particular device. This is a great way to see how your site performs on
mobile devices and test some common elements like share buttons, signup forms,
etc.
Even if you have passed all the tests, this does not mean that your site
is displayed correctly. Most of the time, website owners really only check the
home page, which may seem mobile friendly. However, once you start digging a
little deeper, you may find that there are some potential issues.
Is your registration or subscription form hard to close, making your site
hard to scroll and see?
What about your online store, can your products be bought using a mobile
device?
Are the input fields large enough that you can see what you are typing?
Social media buttons
There are many social sharing plugins available for WordPress, but not
all of them are optimized for use on mobile devices. Most of them allow you to
display social media buttons above content, below content, and as a floating
sidebar, or all of the above, in hopes of encouraging visitors to share your
content.
One of the most effective ways to expand your mailing list is with a
popup plugin. Unfortunately, many of them take up too much space on the screen
of mobile devices, making it impossible to close them, or they are so small
that the user cannot read the text or fill in the required fields. If you use a
pop-up plugin, be sure to thoroughly test it on various mobile devices. If you
need to find a plugin that will display correctly on mobile devices, here are a
few options to consider.
If you're running a small business website and relying heavily on
WooCommerce, it's very important that your store looks and functions the way
it's supposed to work on both mobile and desktop. If you've built your site
using one of the "WooThemes" themes, chances are your store is mobile
friendly. The developers of WooCommerce and WooThemes have been creating
responsive themes since 2011, so sites using their themes should have no
problem.
If you rely on embedding YouTube videos or infographics on your website,
you've probably noticed that they have a set width and height. This can detract
from the experience of your visitors on mobile devices, so the best way to
avoid this is to follow the tips outlined in this Smashing Magazine article,
which explains how to properly embed external content on your site.
A slow loading website will ruin your visitors' experience not only on
desktops but also on mobile devices, especially for those who don't have
generous data plans. A number of small tweaks, such as minimizing stylesheets
and JavaScript files, minimizing the number of plugins used, and compressing
images before uploading them to your site, will speed up your site.
Using a caching plugin, as well as investing in a CDN and a good hosting
company, will also make a big difference in your site's load time and increase
the chances of your visitors with mobile devices.