Am I the only one who HATES mobile versions of websites?

this is what all good designers are currently doing, it is called 'responsive webdesign'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsive_web_design

We are ditching our mobile versions, screen resolutions on mobiles is getting better and better every release of a new handset, most people spending money on porn will have luxuries such as smart phones so it makes sense to follow screen res. html 5, streaming mp4s in a standard web version look fantastic on all large screen phones and tabs, no need for a mobile only version.

Responsive design is where it's at, one site, coded to work with all screen resolutions, pc, tablet and mobile...

While I embraced that approach for at least 3 years, nowadays I'm not so convinced.

Responsive design has an element of randomness, and depending on the code, it may become weird. That's why many people is complaining in this thread. Responsive design is a good solution if you're told to work with the code without touching it. Then you have no options (well, you have some, but very limited). I prefer the different code approach: "if desktop, load site A. If mobile, load site B".

See, the problem is not many people knows what UX/UI is, and from those who know about it, very little people knows what to do with it. That's why I know of good UX developers who charge an average of $150 an hour: they know their stuff and your site will be perfect.

The problem here is most developers think this way: "OK, let's code a regular (desktop) version and then use the same site only smaller and try to fit everything in a limited space" when it should be "for desktop I have all this space and I can do this and this. for mobile, I have a different canvas, so I have to keep the theme, yet do something ENTIRELY DIFFERENT. Let's think in UX terms". That's the difference between good and bad mobile design.

Also, relying in desktop versions for mobile display is bananas. First, not everybody has the latest smart phones. If people complained about IE6 support until a couple years ago because you could miss as much as 5% of traffic, saying you're willing to miss more than 75% of traffic is weird to the very least. Second, even with a smart phone, if you have traffic limitations or slow bandwidth and you're serving pages with really heavy images... well, you won't visit that page ever again.

Think about this: when you're complaining about e-bay or whatever... do you really think they're stupid? really? I bet you'd love to be at least 0.1% of what eBay is. And they didn't grow out of stupidity, they know what they're doing and they invest in development 10 or even 100x your total earnings. That's why there isn't a single successful site without a real mobile version. They know their stuff

The worst thing about mobile sites is the fact that you're viewing it on your phone.

Its not 2010 anymore though, very few people actually have limited data plans these days, especially when it comes to business clients (not specifically porn surfers).

Any designer who creates an image heavy website, responsive or not for a mobile site, may as well just create a Flash website for the mobile traffic.

I guess that is the difference between and amateur and a professional designer though ultimately.

The thing that amazes me the most about mobile website design is that, in non-adult, most company owners that *should* have mobile versions of their sites (or mobile apps for that matter) simply do not understand the benefits of doing so.

We have a limo service that needed a new website mid last year, told him we could streamline the reservation process for his clients by allowing the P.As, secretary's and office staff to access the site on mobile devices, he just gave us a blank look until we showed him what we meant.

He followed up with us a couple of weeks back and is getting around 60% more booking via his mobile site than standard one, which has actually increased his revenue about 25% he tells us

Some businesses do need mobile (or mobile friendly) versions of their sites, others however don't.

Honestly, I used to feel the same way about mobile sites, but soon discovered the reason I hated viewing sites on my devices was because the sites I was viewing simply sucked balls.

A nicely designed, optimized and laid out mobile site imho, can definitely beat a regular browser based site with pretty much all the same features, I can honestly say right now I do a good 50% of my internet surfing on my iPad with maybe 20% being done on my Droid, the rest is on my laptop.

I don't know how is it in US, but most countries companies have limited plans. See Cisco's information on the subject http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions...11-520862.html (very interesting for everybody who wants to understand mobile business nowadays). Anyway, the point is that lousy designers and lousy coders amounts for 99% of lousy sites


on a side note, coincidentally we're working in a massive limo site right now, with 3 different versions: desktop fluid, desktop fixed for iPad and laptops, and mobile

There should be an option to go to desktop version. Whoever doesn't add that, must be some idiot.

If you have mobile users. If not, who cares.

of course, but I assume that's a given. Well, on the other side I've seen some real mobile horror stories, so who knows

Does anyone want the dumb down version of any website?

Me too i never use them