Some experts have predicted that more mobile devices than PCs will browse the Internet by 2015. Not all experts agree, but they certainly acknowledge that the number of mobile users is large, and growing quite rapidly. Neglecting functionality for these devices is alienating a large portion of your potential audience. Many businesses are hesitant to build a mobile version of their site because they believe it will require starting over from the beginning. In reality, free mobile website software is available which makes it possible to create a mobile version of a website with very little work.

There are a few different types of free mobile website software available. They can typically be divided into plug-ins and templates. A plug-in can simply be installed on your website, automatically transforming the site into its mobile version. A template is a builder that lets you enter your content into the interface so that a mobile version of the site can be created. Plug-ins only work with content management systems like Wordpress, while templates can be used to create a site by manually entering in your information. Plug-ins are easier, but templates are certainly simpler than designing a mobile site from scratch.

Regardless of the type of free mobile website software, there are certain things you need to watch out for in order to make sure you are getting the most out of your mobile site. One of the most important factors is the layout. The mobile version of the site should be built to handle the fact that cell phone screens are much smaller than PC screens. Ideally, the software should detect the size of the screen and present the data in a way that best fits it. The text should be large enough to read, the buttons should be big enough to push, and the user shouldn't need to scroll sideways or zoom in order to find any of the site's content.

The software should also create mobile web pages that are small enough to load on a user’s phone. The pages should be small enough to load rapidly. Less than 20 kilobytes is a good choice but less than 10 kilobytes should be achieved, if possible. The layout should be low on images, and no large images or multimedia files should automatically load. Larger files are certainly allowed, but they should only load if the user actually consents to the download. If the multimedia isn't compatible with the phone, alternate text should be displayed instead. The multimedia should be present in a highly compatible format. Complex file types like PDFs, Java, and Flash files should be avoided in order to assure compatibility in most situations.

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