Mobile-first design mistakes that cost you customers
Rami Khoury
Most of your visitors arrive on a phone. These five mistakes quietly send them away.
Designing on a desktop screen first
In the Gulf, most website visits now come from phones, yet many sites are still designed on a wide screen and squeezed down later. Start with the smallest screen and add space as it grows, not the other way round.
Buttons too small to tap
A button that suits a mouse pointer is often too small for a thumb. Keep tap targets at least 44 pixels high and leave space between links, especially in menus and footers.
Heavy images and sliders
A five-image hero slider can weigh more than the rest of the page together. Use one strong image, serve modern formats and load the rest only when the visitor scrolls to it.
Forms that fight the keyboard
Use the right input types so phones show a number pad for phone numbers and an email keyboard for email addresses. Ask only for what you need: every extra field loses people.
Forgetting Arabic on mobile
Arabic text needs more line height and a proper Arabic typeface, and a mirrored layout must be checked on a real phone, not only in a desktop browser. Test both languages before every launch.