For some years we have been designing responsive sites so they could be viewed on computer screens, tablets and mobiles. 

Software developers have really worked hard on this and the software gets better and better. However we are now at a point where the experience is viewed more on mobile than the computer.

This brought about the expression - design mobile first, then develop up to computer - sorted you might think.

But, and there is always a but, screens have got smaller like the smart watch and along with this we now have started to get more sopisticated with vocal interactions. Siri, Alexa and others.

So regarding the web and the site we have to think again - HOW TO ASK A QUESTION? If we ask a question we will get a response but you need to the correct question.

If you don't know what question to ask you won't get an answer.

I'll come back to this another time and just stick to the broader issue of how best to interact with the screen. We know statistically that more than 50% of interactions are with mobile or small devices that are interacted with fingers or pens.

For several years now I have taken the mobile first approach and developed sites that are button/card driven, have look here:

They represent very different sectors and whilst they have slightly different introductions, a hero landing page etc all function by the button approach. Let your fingers do the walking so to speak.

By trying to understand what the client is trying to achieve, what the expectation is then you can start to think about what a user wants fro the site.

It is at this point that I consider I have adifferent approach. A website may contain a number of pages exactly like you would find in a book. These pages may be grouped by chapter, by subject. Well, a website is no more that a digital book and as such it is important to remember how to present your page in a clear and logical way.

So, the buttons group similar pages together - this can act like a chapter in a recipe book for example. The button simply takes you to a page of simlar material where further selections are made.

Some good examples migth be the following:

  • BBC NEWS- the home page whilst still using a conventional menu actually uses a series of card/buttons. If you have the app it becomes more so.
  • Google Image Search - here again you are presented with a grid of card/buttons.

All the sites are Content Managed websites.