The term “Mobile First” is thrown around more and more often – I think we’ve all heard it by now. What “Mobile First” means is subjective at times, and when philosophy is applied to process, there are bound to be exceptions to rules, edge cases, etc.

What is Mobile First?

For most people, the initial thought is mobile devices. But what is “mobile”? Mobile is mobility. This is important, because mobility speaks to the humanistic qualities of experience, whereas devices are hardware.

The most important piece of a Mobile First process is the context of the user. I recently attended DrupalCon Denver, where Michael Keara, of That User Advocate Guy and My Planet, compared a user to a traffic cone. A traffic cone, in and of itself, is inconsequential. But when placed in any environment, the traffic cone should alter its environment to its purpose. People are the same way, and the goal of any Mobile First process is to nail down the context of that user. More great reads in Michael Keara’s blog. Continue reading →