Should I switch to a mobile-friendly blog theme?
And who blogs from their phones anyway?
Do you?
The case for mobile
There is a powerful argument for a responsive blog theme that shifts and flows depending on the size of the reader's device.
|
| The page flows and resizes to fit different screen sizes. Shown: Emporio. |
Most web traffic (for most blogs) comes from phones these days. So a mobile-friendly design is just meeting readers where they are.
But there are tradeoffs.
Meanwhile
So my first question is, who blogs on their phones? Who needs me to change the theme here?
Do you? Because if all of the select few who read this blog work on desktop (like me), then this "Designer" blog theme (which dates from 2010) is, arguably, good enough.
It also gives me a foot in the Designer world, where many of the bloggers I am trying to help are quite happy to be.
On my other blog, which is of more general interest, only 33% of views come from desktop.
It's a good thing I'm using a blog theme there that works well on mobile! It's also an act of respect for my readers.
On this blog, desktop accounts for 75% of views. That says to me that most of you work on a desktop computer.
Maybe all of you, if the 25% are here by accident. (Presumably they don't stick around long.)
Or maybe some of you read this blog on your phone even though you write blog posts on desktop. Is that it?
Blog from your phone?
I imagine that if you are mostly posting photos, the new interface can work pretty well, too.
But for blogs with text and other kinds of graphics, well, I don't know. I couldn't do it. But you tell me!
Which brings me to my second question.
Switch to a mobile friendly theme?
- The "snipitization" of posts on the dynamic pages is often awkward and provides less control over a blog's appearance.
- Navigation is impaired, compared to at least some features of the older Designer themes (like the one on this blog as I write this in May of 2025).
- The implementation of some standard widgets, such as the Archive widget, is inferior to what they replaced.
Of course you absolutely get a better experience for mobile readers.
That experience is far from perfect, but there is only so much stuff you can cram into the screen real estate of a cell phone.
There are a lot of tangents to my request. Was making a responsive (and more-mobile-friendly) back end to Blogger worth the many ways it made blogging harder for most of us?
Is the current mobile experience about as good as possible, given the limitations of the tiny screen, or could it be better?
A little help from my friends
Do you blog from mobile? If you do, what is that like? Does it flow?
However you blog, what kind of theme do you use? I invite you to share your blog URL in the comments.
Should I keep my old (but functional) blog theme ("Picture Window," ca 2010) (how time flies!)? Or should I embrace the responsive moment?
I want to serve all of my readers as best I can.
Here's a history of Blogger themes and templates, by the way.
I have been loving the questions and engagement in comments to recent posts here. Please don't let me down!
Update: Responses here exceeded my hopes and have given me a lot to chew on! Thanks to my readers for repaying me with your thoughts.
Comments on this post (worth reading!) are not closed.
Maybe my opinion shouldn't matter, as I'm 63 (old school and a bit stubborn) but I always look at your blog (and others) on either my laptop or my Samsung Galaxy tablet. But after reading this, I opened your blog on my smartphone, got the mobile version, didn't like it, hurried & scrolled down to the 'Use Web Version' option at the bottom. I just don't like mobile versions of blogs. I want to see it like it looks on my computer. My own blog is set to display the same version wherever it's accessed. Keep up the good work, and if you're curious, here's mine: https://apachedugs.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteYour theme is of the same vintage as mine! These really are not great on mobile, no doubt about that. But personally I think the web version on a phone is just dead out, unless your readers have a microscope.
DeleteI never blog from my phone too fiddly! I read blogs on a tablet so the theme is fine there, and I blog on computer.. I tried the newer themes but dislike their truncated display.
ReplyDeleteI see your blogs' themes are the same vintage as mine.
DeleteBoy, I think blogging from a phone would be tedious. Can't imagine composing any narrative of length and fiddling with the photo editor using that modality. You do you! I read your blog on my laptop, and it looks great.
ReplyDeleteI don't blog from my phone. But I do frequently read blogs on my phone and tablet, and I think yours would be easier to read with a responsive theme (the current funny is really small). You might also have more mobile readers if your blog was mobile friendlier (maybe).
ReplyDeleteIn others words, my 75% figure represents a kind of sampling bias, insofar as the design frustrates reading on small devices?
DeleteAs Peggy knows I have a food blog. Before I switched to Google's Notable theme last year readership was already mostly mobile. So whatever the story is here, it is not just that mobile readers are repelled by my design.
I like the current format and I don't try to read blogs from phones.
ReplyDeleteI notice that your blog is also on a 2010 "Designer" theme (like mine), too.
DeleteI write and read on mobile. It would be great if the nostalgic atmosphere of the old web and the accessibility logic of the new web could be combined. I also slowly started coding a Blogger theme (my hobby) but because designs interested me. Readers who want a responsive theme are usually designers, people who focus on writing open blogs and only write. I must admit that designing is fun and enjoyable. If I look at it as a designer, yes, you should switch to a responsive theme. However, if you ask my opinion as a blogger, there is no problem in keeping it this way. I do not like sidebars. That is why I use a flat and fast blog theme.
ReplyDeleteI find a sidebar to be functional for navigation to older but "evergreen" material. But it basically fails on mobile, though it is at least theoretically available there with a mobile theme.
DeleteIt is very challenging to design for the mobile age!
You are right on one point.
DeleteI post to one of my blogs from my phone: it was designed to be mobile-first, because of the niche it's in (job ads displayed in local businesses), and the posts are short and feature one photo each, with lots of content copy-pasted from previous posts with small changes to the words.
ReplyDeleteI occasionally make very small design tweaks from my phone.
But for any serious writing, design or problem solving, I use desktop: phone is just to difficult. No need for this blog to have a mobile theme IMHO.
I like your blog theme. It is fairly easily readable on my 10 inch tablet as long as I turn it to landscape view. It's pretty small on portrait view. You could use a newer responsive theme and put most of the style from your old theme on it. That's if you wanted to keep the same look.
ReplyDeleteThere is always some value to keeping some design elements in a transition, but it can be a lot of fiddly work! as the theme architecture is different.
DeleteBefore I got my computer a month ago, I was blogging on my cellphone. No fun at all, it takes longer, has a smaller screen and there are things the phone can't do that a computer can. Take it from me, it is definitely not a good idea.
ReplyDeleteI see your blog theme is as old as this one! (2010)
DeleteWriting on the phone is tedious, even with text replacements set up. But I've done any number of times.
ReplyDeleteAs for reading, I don't like mobile views, partly because they tend to make blogs look the same, and partly because I suspect that snippet views reduce engagement. And I like the presence of a sidebar, which can add all kinds of individuality to a blog. I don't mind pinching to expand the column for posts and push the sidebar off the screen.
These older themes have a mobile option: if enabled the sidebar is not accessible at all. It is a real loss of functionality.
DeleteAlternatively, you can use the traditional web view, which requires mobile readers to spread, pinch, and drag the view around.
That is an argument for a responsive theme, which at least lets you see the sidebar on a phone, if you like, without so much fiddling. Just one click.
My question isn't really about which experience is better: desktop wins that one hands down. It is rather how far to go to accommodate mobile readers. There are a lot of them!
I don't know if you're aware of this, but Blogger itself allow the author to use both Old Blogger theme, AND together with New Automatic Mobile Responsive theme at the same time.
ReplyDeleteSo whenever visiting your Blog on Desktop, it looks good as is.
But on Mobile, you should enable different theme because it's more geared for Automatic Responsive mobile screen resolutions.
And we're aware that Blogger allowing this so far. No idea since when this is possible. I certainly remember this was not possible in 2019 just before the pandemic. Suddenly it's possible now. I just got back to Blogger in 2025 after so long.
Are you sure, Niezza? Google has a mobile option for older themes like this one, but it is not responsive, There is no way to view the sidebar, for instance.
DeleteI'm happy reading your blog as it is on a phone. No problems.
ReplyDeleteI've never blogged using a phone so I don't know anything about that but I know some people really prefer that. But I'm old-fashioned about blogs and I prefer to blog on a desktop and like readers to read on a desktop but that's not ideal. Some readers uses feeds so whatever theme you use, they don't don't see it. But I do appreciate when a blogger puts in the work to make their blog look good. Sometimes a little presentation makes reading more enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteAs for changing to a more responsive template, I'm all for it but I do like this template you're using. If Blogger care enough, they could provide their users with better templates because the responsive templates they are offering are terrible in my opinion unless you have really good photos because all the templates makes your images large no matter how low resolution those images are.
Have a lovely day.
That's a good point about image quality! When I converted my other blog to a responsive theme, some of my older posts looked odd because of image size and placement.
DeleteI had to change formatting of a lot of posts. And If I did the same thing here, I am sure some of my older stuff would look funny.
I always blog from my laptop or tablet. But I read your blog from my mobile when I receive your email notification. I don't have or notice an issue when I do 😉
ReplyDeleteThank you, Healthy. I'm using the mobile version that Google introduced in 2011. I think it does a good job of showing individual posts.
DeleteHowever, beyond that, navigation is poor. Your theme (Healthy) is responsive and preserves the navigational "tabs" as links above the post. In the mobile version I am using, those links are available from a drop-down menu that does not even look like a drop-down menu.
Your theme hides the sidebar but it is a click away. In my mobile theme, there is no way to view the sidebar at all.
Your theme is ok in my phone.
ReplyDeleteI always write a post with the mobile experience in mind, but I write on a laptop; the Blogger dashboard works perfectly on mobile browsers (I prefer the browser to the APP), and I use it for drafts. My theme is responsive, it's a third-party theme that I bought and modified: https://delitoopiniao.blogspot.com/
ReplyDelete"I always write a post with the mobile experience in mind, but I write on a laptop" are words to blog by, I think.
DeleteI usually blog using both my laptop and phone. When I'm on my phone, I write drafts in Google Keep. On my computer, I use Notepad for drafting. Then I move everything to the blog using my laptop. I do most of the editing on my computer or laptop. So basically, when it comes to uploading content (including photos), I use a computer, but for editing, I often use my phone too.
ReplyDeleteI've been using WordPress for the past few years. This year, my wife also moved her blog from Blogger to WordPress.
Here are some of my blogs:
– https://tambahbaik.com (on upgraded WordPress.com, using default theme Twenty Twenty Five)
– https://kaji.id (on WordPress.org, using Generate Press)
As for your blog, I’m not sure if you’re planning to change the theme or not—but honestly, your posts are already interesting, so I’ll keep visiting whenever there’s something new.
Iqbal, that is very kind. I like to think that some of the things I write about are not platform-specific—not limited to Blogger alone. Though much of it obviously is.
DeleteYour blog themes are pleasantly responsive.
To answer one of your questions, I believe most probably write on desktop and read on mobile. At least, that is where I am.
ReplyDeleteIn answer to the rest,
You CAN choose a modern mobile theme for viewers and keep your old school desktop view at the same time.
Under Theme, there is a "Mobile Setting" option. First it will as what you want to do there. If you choose Mobile, then you can pick which of the themes you want to use.
One of my blogs uses the mobile theme that goes with the old school theme I use.
https://justoddmemoirs.blogspot.com/
Another of my blogs uses a modern theme and "desktop" view for mobile, which is really no different.
https://phocas.net/
Otherwise, yea ... there are tradeoffs between the old and new themes in mobile and they are mostly unpleasant.
There should be customization available, but there isn't.
Hi jusTodd, thanks.
DeleteFor your memoirs blog, have you tried the "custom" option for the mobile theme? It would match the formatting of your desktop choices.
You can preview that from within the mobile-theme option (on that menu on the Theme page).
Indeed! That is kind of what I meant that I am doing. The only thing that does not carry over is the font type. However... I think I just figured that out too. I had to pick "custom" at the bottom and NOT "Travel." Thanks for pointing this out for me!
DeleteI think I need to write a walk-through of those choices.
DeleteLook forward to it! I am pretty good at poking around, but your blog has identified things I just never looked for or thought about much. Always appreciative!
DeleteHaving a responsive website is essential. To think otherwise is to deny the reality around us, where we consume content via cell phones. But, as I said before, quality production requires a different medium, except for very casual posts. I don't understand why many people on this platform don't see this yet. Nowadays, there are extremely high-quality responsive themes with many features, such as those on these two sites: https://probloggertemplates.com/ and https://www.heybi.com/ Let's value those who produce for our platform and show that a Blogger site can be as professional as those on other platforms.
ReplyDeleteObviously, switching from old versions to responsive themes requires a change in what is considered important on the blog. I, personally, have learned to use a minimalist perspective: I have given up certain features to facilitate the general flow of reading on mobile phones.
ReplyDelete