Responsive Web Design vs Mobile Apps: Which is Right for Your Business?
The mobile revolution has redefined our lives. Users can now stay in touch with their smartphones while on the go. This phenomenon is now forcing companies to rethink their business strategies. Now, a mobile-first approach works. However, this shift from desktop to mobile requires designers and developers to take a 360-degree mobile-centric approach.
There are different ways to create an effective web presence, such as responsive web design, native apps, mobile web apps, or dedicated mobile sites.
Each approach has inherent advantages and disadvantages, suitable development frameworks and use cases. It is important to adopt the right method that meets your requirements and business objectives.
Mobile Web Applications
Application developers often create websites for the big screen, ignoring how the website looks when viewed from a mobile device. Excessive zooming or resizing when viewing a site from a mobile device can make it difficult to navigate the site. As a result, some companies create separate versions of their sites specifically for users accessing their sites from mobile devices. The main advantage of a mobile website is that it is optimized to be viewed on mobile phones and tablets.
Mobile web applications are highly dependent on the browser and its ability to render the application.
Native mobile apps, on the other hand, are highly dependent on the device and its ability to render the app. Ultimately, the resulting mobile web app looks and works like a native app, with the only difference being that it’s served through a mobile browser.
On the other hand:
One of the biggest challenges of mobile web applications is being uncovered. What’s the point of a web app if the user doesn’t know your app exists? Finding mobile web apps with great functionality and user experience is always a daunting task.
The mobile web app only works best with a broadband and/or Wi-Fi internet connection. They do not work on older devices and browsers.
So, you better hope that people with the latest smartphones and tablets can access your app.
Responsive Web Design
Building a website without responsive is unthinkable. Responsive web design is an “approach to web design that aims to create websites that provide an optimal viewing and interaction experience – easy to read and navigate with minimal resizing, panning and scrolling – on a wide range of devices (from desktop monitor to mobile phone)” This technology is now the new standard and the default option for all websites. RWD comes with a strong recommendation from Google. Google says responsive web design is the recommended mobile setup and even supports responsive web design as an industry best practice.
Therefore, as a user moves from one device to another, the website adapts to changing resolutions and image sizes.
On the other hand, designing a website using responsive web design takes more time than building a normal website. If your website is already built using normal website methods, rebuilding it using responsive web design will add to your problems.
Which method is right for you?
Well, it all depends on your business goals and what you’re trying to accomplish with your website or app. Responsive web design provides optimal viewing across multiple screen sizes and devices through a single code base. It requires little maintenance and improves SEO. On the other hand, mobile web applications offer faster implementation and provide better user experience.
Before you jump in, remember that building a website using any method requires you to consider user needs. Don’t blindly follow trends. Put the user first.
Let connect for consultation.
Leave a Reply