Here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester, we are Manchester’s leading web design experts. We work with companies and businesses across Manchester, and the surrounding area, including Wigan and Southport, to provide web design solutions that can help businesses grow. As a result, we have produced this guide to everything you should know about mobile websites and split screen design.
What is split screen design?
Split screen design is a type of web design that involves dividing the screen, usually into two sections. These can be equal 50:50 sections, or they can have a 75:25 split instead, and the divide can even be a zig/zag, rather than a straight edge. In addition, a split screen design can use a solid and obvious divide, using imagery or illustration, or it can be more subtle, with differences in colour or background. The result is that there is distinctive content on each side of the page, that adds visual interest to the screen and can help to interest your potential customers or clients. But can this work on smaller screen sizes, for mobile web design? Well, to do so effectively, there are some important considerations.
What are the important split screen design considerations for mobile websites?
for your split screen design to have the maximum visual impact, and for this to be fully functional on mobile websites, there are a number of design considerations to take into account. These include:
- Split screens usually become stacked instead- one of the first considerations is the orientation. For responsive websites, split screens are often stacked, to show one half and then the other, as the user scrolls down the page. This means that your mobile website misses the opportunity to show two different elements at once, and if your potential customers or clients are mostly mobile users, they will not get the design benefit of the split screen design. However, you can alter this and create a version of split screen for the mobile version.
- Screen space- clearly a vertical mobile phone screen is much narrower than a typical desktop or laptop screen. This means that in general your split screen content will not fit on this narrow space effectively. However, by planning for this narrow screen, you can create a version of the design for mobile users. Simply consider the size of the text, the purpose of the split screen, and what type of content to show. Generally, it is much more effective to display a small amount of text on one side, that can be easily read, with an image on the other. This helps increase usability for mobile website users.
- The length of the screen- creating a mobile version of a split screen design means using a narrow split section. However, this should probably not be the full length of the screen itself, as this would look odd and unprofessional. As a result, you should use the split screen design for just some of the website elements, and these will need to share the screen with content underneath as well. This means that minimalism should be something you aim for.
For more information about web design, get in touch with the experts today, here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester. Manchester’s leading web design experts.