--- title: "Nonprofit Web Developer: Make Sure Going Mobile Makes Sense" id: "16782" type: "post" slug: "nonprofit-web-developer-make-sure-going-mobile-makes-sense" published_at: "2013-04-09T16:57:53+00:00" modified_at: "2026-03-15T19:59:55+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2013/04/09/nonprofit-web-developer-make-sure-going-mobile-makes-sense/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2013/04/09/nonprofit-web-developer-make-sure-going-mobile-makes-sense.md" excerpt: "Why one nonprofit web developer, when doing its market research, realized responsive wasn't the way to go. Also: leadership lessons from a move." taxonomy_category: - "Marketing / Communications" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AssociationsNow" - "Business" - "Marketing" - "mobile design" - "Social Media" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Director" - "Manager" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Nonprofit Web Developer: Make Sure Going Mobile Makes Sense You may be designing a really great mobile site, but “really great mobile site” doesn’t necessarily mean “responsive design.” How one nonprofit built its mobile site, and more, in today’s Lunchtime Links: **When responsive isn’t right:** Not sure responsive design is the right solution for you? You might find from doing market research that it’s *not* the way to go. That’s the situation Foraker Labs’ Derek Olson says he faced when deciding how to go mobile with Breastcancer.org. For one thing, users needed different things from the site. “Because of the difficulty of ‘thumb typing’ on a mobile device, a greater percentage of mobile users landed on the home page, where they were dependent on the site’s main navigation,” [Olson noted on NTEN. (opens in a new tab)](http://www.nten.org/articles/2013/case-study-from-breastcancerorg-choosing-between-responsive-web-design-and-a-separate-mobile-site-to-improve-mob-0?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nten+%28NTEN+Blog%29) “Desktop users, on the other hand, were more likely to arrive directly at the content they desired by typing a longer search phrase into a search engine.” Ultimately, the organization chose to go with a separate mobile site rather than responsive design. What was your thought process when going mobile? > Let’s take a minute and appreciate how cool it is that social media is a one-stop shop for entertainment, time wasting, and incredibly powerful and ever-emerging marketing and customer communication. **Taking a lesson from a move:** Recently, consultant Jamie Notter downsized into a smaller home for his family, and even for someone who knows as much about leadership as Notter does, the process was a struggle. “It is thoroughly exhausting, and as you may have guessed from this blog, I’m a big-picture guy, and moving requires LOTS of details, so I struggled,” he writes. “But I must say I am thrilled to be typing this from my new place.” From the painful process of moving, Notter culled a few leadership lessons worth heeding, which [you should check out over this way (opens in a new tab)](http://jamienotter.com/2013/04/leadership-lessons-from-moving/) . **Mixing social with work:** There may have been a time when it wasn’t cool to keep a Facebook tab open at work, but that time has passed. MemberClicks’ Sarah Hill, writing for SocialFish, [says things have changed significantly in recent years (opens in a new tab)](http://www.socialfish.org/2013/04/working-and-facebooking-no-longer-impossible.html) . “Let’s take a minute and appreciate how cool it is that social media is a one-stop shop for entertainment, time wasting, and incredibly powerful and ever-emerging marketing and customer communication,” she writes. “And that it’s an integral part of my (and probably also your) job.” Still, there’s a stigma, but it’s something Hill says organizations need to get past. How do you mix work and play with social media? Tell us about it in the comments. (iStockphoto/Thinkstock) [Ernie Smith](https://associationsnow.com/author/ernie-smith/) Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/ernie-smith/) Tags: [#Business](https://associationsnow.com/tag/business/) [#Marketing](https://associationsnow.com/tag/marketing/) [#mobile design](https://associationsnow.com/tag/mobile-design/) [#Social Media](https://associationsnow.com/tag/social-media/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## You Might Like - [VideoRecap from the 2025 ASAE MMC+Tech ConferenceMay 19, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/05/19/recap-from-the-2025-asae-mmctech-conference/) - [VideoSneak Peek: Highlights from Day 2 of the 2025 ASAE MMC+Tech ConferenceMay 14, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/05/14/sneak-peek-highlights-from-day-2-of-the-2025-asae-mmctech-conference/) - [VideoDaily Recap: Day 1 from the 2025 ASAE MMC+Tech ConferenceMay 13, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/05/13/daily-recap-day-1-from-the-2025-asae-mmctech-conference/) - [VideoSneak Peek: Highlights from Day 1 of the 2025 ASAE MMC+Tech ConferenceMay 13, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/05/13/sneak-peek-highlights-from-day-1-of-the-2025-asae-mmctech-conference/) ## Comments **Comments are for ASAE members.** [Learn more about comments on this site.](https://associationsnow.com/comments/) [Log in](https://associationsnow.com/login?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fassociationsnow.com%2F2013%2F04%2F09%2Fnonprofit-web-developer-make-sure-going-mobile-makes-sense%2F%23comments) to your member account or [join ASAE](https://my.asaecenter.org/select-a-membership-type/) !