: A big site I worked on before tried a few different ways of user-agent sniffing with redirects that proved to be a bit slow when dealing with millions of users. We also ended up needing

A big site I worked on before tried a few different ways of user-agent sniffing with redirects that proved to be a bit slow when dealing with millions of users. We also ended up needing to provide a link to the mobile site anyway, for those users where user-agent sniffing failed. They ended up just using a prominent link to the mobile site, and encouraging mobile users to bookmark the mobile version. The BBC take a similar approach.

Device-based CSS and fluid layouts ignore the fact that browsing on a mobile device, especially a touchscreen one, is a totally different experience to using a keyboard, mouse and 19" monitor. In terms of design you need to think more about page weight, massive buttons (for fat fingers), pinch and zoom, etc.

You also need to think about why your users are browsing on a mobile device, rather than a desktop or laptop. They are likely to have different goals and needs. One big example is white goods sites that provide mobile-optimised sites, with exactly the same content. I wonder how many people order a fridge after seeing a thumbnail on their iPhone? Mobile users are more likely to be looking for store locations, phone numbers, prices for a product they are looking at in another store, etc.

Hence, the most effective mobile sites are those that are thought of as providing a mobile experience, rather than just a mobile design.

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