This document summarizes Bob Johnson's presentation on responsive design and mobile performance. The presentation covered how reducing content and adding marketing experts to design teams can improve responsive sites. It emphasized that mobile users expect fast load times but responsive designs often perform slower than mobile sites. The presentation suggested mobile-first approaches with minimal content to focus on key tasks and calls to action. It provided resources for testing responsive design performance and developing mobile-friendly sites.

1. A NEED FOR SPEED: RESPONSIVE
DESIGN IN A MOBILE WORLD
©ROBERTE. JOHNSON, PH.D.2010
Bob Johnson, Ph.D.
President, Bob Johnson Consulting
Partner, Customer Carewords, Ltd
J.Boye Web & Intranet Conference
Philadelphia, PA
May 6-9, 2013
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2. My goal today…
For marketers…
• Understand why
reducing content will
make it easier to
create effective
responsive design
websites.
For website creators…
• Understand why
adding a marketing
communications
person to the website
design team will help
make a site easier to
use.
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3. COMPLETE A TOP TASK…
Major reason people visit your
website
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4. <5 SECONDS TO
CONNECT…
The Golden Rule
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5. PERFORMANCE IS A
PRIORITY…
“It’s possible to address
performance concerns... most
people don’t.”
Tim Kadlec, Implementing Responsive Design
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6. SPEED… THE ACHILLES’
HEEL OF RESPONSIVE
DESIGN
“Unfortunately, performance is treated
as an afterthought on many projects.”
Tim Kadlec, Implementing Responsive Design
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7. Home page load times increasing…
Web Performance Today http://bit.ly/1525Y7P
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8. Slower on all browsers…
Web Performance Today http://bit.ly/1525Y7P
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9. 10 fastest business sites… <4seconds
Web Performance Today http://bit.ly/1525Y7P
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10. Tablet users have high expectations…
http://bit.ly/HUPxPj (March 2012 research)
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11. That are not being met…
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12. RD vs. mobile download speed…
http://mobitest.akamai.com/m/index.cgi
Top RD website… 5.05s Top mobile website… 1.80s
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13. Mobile site speed leader… 12 requests
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14. RD site speed leader… 28 requests
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15. AFTER THE RESPONSIVE
HOME PAGE?
Some desktop pages are not “mobile
friendly”…
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16. Not very “responsive” for humans…
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17. GOING FORWARD:
MOBILE FORCES FOCUS…
“Mobile first… helps you to focus on key
components of your site…”
Tim Kadlec, Implementing Responsive Design
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18. REMOVING CONTENT…
“The alarming trend of hiding
content on mobile devices…”
Tim Kadlec, Implementing Responsive Design
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19. PORTABLE CONTENT…
“How do we make content more
portable?”
Tim Kadlec, Implementing Responsive Design
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20. CUSTOM CONTENT…
“Some suggest that custom
content should be written for each
site.”
Tim Kadlec, Implementing Responsive Design
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21. Get priorities in order…
• Start with mobile expectations…
1. Create a simple design
2. Highlight important info (AKA: identify top
tasks)
3. Feature calls-to-action
4. Keep sites quick
5. Optimize for screen size
• Website Magazine, “Meeting Mobile Expectations,”
May 2013
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22. If you were starting RD from scratch…
Build from mobile up…
• Less content
• Fewer images
• Cleaner design
• Faster operating site
If from desktop down…
• Can you eliminate
garbage content?
• Can you agree that not all
content is “ready for
responsive”?
• Can you wait to launch
until all key pages are
ready?
• Does everyone
understand “speed”?
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23. RESOURCES…
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24. The case for speed…
http://www.copyblogger.com/website-speed-matters/
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25. Testing for “real world” performance…
http://www.guypo.com/uncategorized/real-world-rwd-performance-take-2/
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26. Tim Kadlec’s book…
http://www.implementingresponsivedesign.com/
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27. Problems and solutions…
http://vimeo.com/49194960
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28. Available on SlideShare…
http://www.slideshare.net/tsalcedo/higher-ed-web-ne-presentation
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29. Testing mobile sites…
http://mobitest.akamai.com/m/index.cgi
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30. THANKS FOR BEING
HERE IN PHILADELPHIA!
Bob Johnson, Ph.D.
bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com
www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com
@highedmarketing
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31. ADDENDUM 1
Speed tests, Mobile Sites vs.
Responsive Design Sites
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32. 8 higher education RD websites +1…
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33. 9 higher education mobile sites…
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