I would agree that mobile devices are getting bigger, but I'm not going to carry one of those around with me permanently.

I'm always going to have my smartphone on me. If I need to know something quickly whilst I'm out I'll use that rather than wait. A couple of sites I use regularly have mobile versions and I appreciate that.

Whether you have a mobile version of your own site is a judgement call. You have to look at your traffic stats from mobile and work out whether its worth the time and effort.

Also look at your competitors, if they have mobile sites then may be mobile users will go to their site in preference to yours?

I don't think you can say that just because you don't like mobile versions of sites you don't have to build one for your own website. There's more to it than that.

The need for a mobile website, and people trying to sell mobile websites as just another "You need this..." product are two different things.

Given time all websites will probably move to a fluid HTML5 layout and display well on all screens regardless of size. Until then it might or might not be worth having a separate mobile version, based on what your stats tell you.

I've noticed that a sizeable proportion of my sites' visitors are on mobile devices, and their bounce rate is pretty high. This doesn't surprise me as the sites are pretty difficult to use when scaled down. As the numbers make it appear worthwhile, I've been building a mobile version. I decided to do it with all features and all content, so it's every bit as good as the original. It's been about two hundred hours work so far, almost finished (phew), and the process has forced me to face and address usability issues in a way which will be really useful in future development.

My share of mobile visitors increased over the last 18 month from 1.5% to around 8%. I am now starting to make the lead generation part of the site more mobile friendly. Can't be a big thing to do.

When analyzing your users you should split the mobile segment into tablets and phones. If you have a big share of phone users, you need to do something.

Other variables to consider if using a responsive design versus a mobile friendly one are bandwidth and speed. Responsive designs are nice, but you are forcing a user to download information they may not see or be able to use. You also have to keep in mind that some people pay for bandwidth usage, so why make them download more than they need.

Making a mobile friendly site is not that difficult and personally, I think it is considerate of a website to do so, just as it is considerate to make a site accessibility friendly. Let the user decide what is best to use.

Marshall

Ignore mobiles at your peril.

Always give mobile users an easy and very clear way to get to the full site. Then the choice is theirs. If you don't have a mobile site then they have NO choice.

I suspect some of your annoyance could be due to the fact that you can't be bothered to develop a mobile site. It's not that hard, really. And if you expect people to cart around I-Pads with them so that they can see your site, forget it!

My sites are getting around 18% views from mobiles and it's increasing.

The following 6 messages were cut out to new thread by engine. New thread at: mobile_web_design_development/4596106.htm [webmasterworld.com]
5:14 pm on Jul 24, 2013 (utc +1)