How To Make Your Website Tablet-Friendly

Mobile devices take up a significant portion of the whole web traffic (over 60% total). And, while the majority of it is through smartphones, a considerable part comes from tablets.

Many websites only focus on optimizing for phones and forgetting to consider tablets, but this oversight leads to a sub-optimal experience for a percentage of visitors. So, in this article, find out how to make your website tablet-friendly. 

What does “tablet-friendly” mean?

Making a site tablet-friendly essentially means it has a good browsing experience on a tablet device. For example, a desktop view may look shrunken on tablets, whereas mobile view is overly scaled-up.

Ideally, the key parts of the website like the layout, text, images, and navigation would look good without needing to constantly zoom in or zoom out. 

Not just that, tablet users may also have unique functionality that is not common on desktop devices. While most users enter websites through typing their domain names in the search bar,  some like to save them to their home screens for quick access. The way this appears on their devices is yet another thing to consider.  

Layout and readability

Creating a responsible web design is crucial to ensure that it looks great on different devices. This usually means using fluid grids and flexible images, which are able to adapt to the unique width and length of the tablet screen. 

Font sizing and line height are also paramount, as those can end up looking odd on mid-sized devices. Generally, tablets benefit from slightly larger base font sizes compared to mobile devices. The line height should be at an optimal level for good readability, without creating overly large white spaces. 

Furthermore, while tablet screen space allows for more content visibility than mobile, it still requires careful content prioritization compared to desktop layouts. Use multi-column arrangements or rich content modules where appropriate. 

Optimizing for touch

While some people prefer to use a stylus pen, tablets are generally touch-first devices. Therefore, tap target sizing is important to avoid the “fat finger” problem. This means having sufficient spacing between interactive elements (which may be different to that of a smartphone).

Additionally, don’t forget to optimize fields that open up, such as menu items and form fields. When a user clicks on an item to reveal sub-menus, these should be visible and fit nicely on the screen.

When it comes to forms and comments, tablets automatically open up an on-screen keyboard to allow typing. Make sure there is appropriate space for input. 

Performance considerations

Website’s performance is concerned with how quickly and seamlessly everything works and loads. This has a direct impact on user satisfaction and is equally important on desktop as it is on tablets.

However, since mobile devices use Wi-Fi instead of ethernet cables, the loading speed may be affected by less stable internet connection.

One of the ways to ensure great performance is through image optimization (overly large images may take a while to load, slowing the whole site down). If that doesn’t work, look into your website hosting or, potentially, migrating to a VPS (Virtual Private Server) which will provide more resources. 

Thorough testing

Most modern website builders already have smart tools that take care of these things for you, adapting your site seamlessly to a variety of screen sizes. However, the most effective way to ensure that your website is friendly to all visitors is through testing.

Whenever you make major changes or create new pages, make sure to check it on different devices for optimal experience.