If your website was built years ago, chances are it wasn’t designed with mobile in mind. That’s a problem—because more than half of web traffic now comes from mobile devices. If your site doesn’t work on a phone, you’re losing visitors (and revenue).

The good news: you don’t always need to rebuild everything from scratch. There are practical steps you can take to make an older site mobile-friendly.

Run a Mobile Usability Test

Start by seeing how your site performs today. Try a mobile-friendly test tool to see:

• Whether text is too small to read on phones

• If buttons/links are too close together

• Whether your site fits on smaller screens

• Page speed issues on mobile networks
  
  
  

This gives you a clear list of fixes to prioritize.

Upgrade to Responsive Design

Responsive design means your website automatically adjusts to fit any screen size—desktop, tablet, or mobile.

If your current site uses fixed-width layouts, you’ll need to:

• Update your CSS with responsive grid systems (like Flexbox or CSS Grid)

• Replace fixed pixel widths with relative units (%, em, rem)
  Add media queries to adapt layouts at different breakpoints
  
  
  

Optimize Images and Media

Large images and heavy media slow mobile performance. To fix this:

• Compress images with tools like TinyPNG

• Use next-gen formats (WebP, AVIF) where supported

• Enable lazy loading so images only load when needed
  
  
  

Simplify Navigation for Smaller Screens

What works on a desktop often fails on mobile. Instead of long menus or tiny links, consider:

• Collapsible “hamburger” menus

• Larger tap targets for buttons and links

• Sticky headers for easy navigation
  
  
  

Improve Page Speed

Mobile users expect fast load times. To deliver, make sure to:

• Minimize external scripts and plugins

• Enable browser caching and a CDN

• Audit and clean up unused code
  
  
  

Consider a Phased Redesign

If your site is very old, retrofitting it for mobile may only get you so far. In that case, a phased redesign is smarter—modernize the frontend first while keeping the backend logic intact.

At Rescue My Code, we often recommend an X-Ray audit before deciding whether to retrofit or rebuild. That way, you know what’s working, what’s holding you back, and what the fastest path forward is.

Mobile Isn’t Optional

A site that doesn’t work on mobile isn’t just inconvenient—it’s a liability. Visitors bounce, search rankings drop, and you lose business.

✅ Test your site’s mobile performance
✅ Apply responsive design best practices
✅ Prioritize speed and usability

Not sure whether your old site can be salvaged or needs a rebuild? Start with an X-Ray audit and get a clear, plain-English roadmap to a mobile-friendly site.