The mobile-first concept emerged in 2010 aiming to create a better user experience by first designing for smaller screens such as Android and iOS devices than for the websites. The CEO of Google back in 2010 announced that they have started focusing on mobile designing practices, making the mobile architecture right first to provision more and more users with the services provided.
Eric Schmidt also emphasized always putting the best mobile app developers and designers to develop a seamless mobile app. Since mobile designs are limited to small screens, hence it is important to analyze and put only the relevant elements within.
After this announcement, many companies started focusing on and implementing the mobile-first concept. When surveyed, it was estimated that by 2025, 72.5% of the service accessibility and search was only through smartphones.
Importance of Mobile-First Designing
Since the majority of the population prefers using their handheld devices for the search of any product and services, there has become an increasing demand for not just apps, but the companies to create mobile-friendly websites. If you see the graph of mobile users in 2016 – they were 2.5 billion and reached 3.8 billion in 2021.
Another important factor for the companies to shift their website development solution into mobile-friendly is the Google ranking. Yes, Google uses mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal on mobile searches. Therefore, a good user experience helps the companies increase their visibility, thereby increasing the chances of potential conversion rates.
The Mobile-first concept also offers multiple avenues in terms of accessibility, such as the hierarchy of information and small-screen friendliness.
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The mobile-first concept helps educationists to deliver and the learners to access relevant learning content from the comfort of home or desktop or even workstation. Developing a custom LMS keeping the mobile-first concept in mind offers convenience and individual possession to the training material at all times.
In this article, we will learn about the benefits of the Mobile-first concept and the technology stack used to build a robust and responsive LMS.
Advantages of Mobile-First LMS Development
Enhanced Learning Path
Today’s technology-integrated learning management systems are usually powered by Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning that helps learners with learning routes and relevant suggestions for the course. These technologies make LMS smarter, offering timely reminders/notifications for course/exam deadlines, commencement dates, updates, fee payment deadlines, liberty to the personalized course, and more. AI/ML integration assists in developing an overall skill that is crucial for their career growth.
Emit Skill Gaps
Following the mobile-first concept better the skill alignment between the experienced counterparts and the employees within the organization. Young talent can better perform and compete with confidence while performing a task. Using mobile-first can engage learners more and make learning more relevant for them.
Better Retention Rates
When the courses are intuitive, short, and brief, it is more fun and easy to complete them. Mobile-first opportune for educationists to create fragmented or small-size course modules that engage learners more, encourage faster course completion, and retain the knowledge better.
Constructive Resource & Time Use
Mobile-first custom LMS development can save a lot of time and resources for an organization. Definitely, learners have the leverage to access the learning content from anywhere without the need to look for experts to manage everything.
Intuitive Designs for Better Engagement
The efficient SaaS or cloud-based LMS is flexible and offers customization for the scalability of the business. Developing an intuitive, appealing, and easy-to-navigate platform delivers a better experience despite poor bandwidth.
Latest Content
A mobile-first LMS development can allow easy onboarding and enrollment of learners to their respective training courses right away. Educationists or organizations can always add new and relevant course material which encourages better learning while tracking individual performance, course completion & more. Organizations can integrate powerful authoring tools compliant to SCORM/AICC/xAPI, offering better content performance tracking with the help of reporting and analytics. This way understanding the weakness and strengths of the individual becomes easy.
Compatible with Multiple Devices
One of the biggest advantages of opting for mobile-first is compatibility with numerous multimedia devices, tablets, and laptops. This type of easy integration further aids the user to select the preferred device and get going with their learning material, wherever and whenever they want.
Lean and Capable
Since the mobile-first is designed for learners to access the learning content from anywhere, a heavy & feature-rich LMS may not be of use, making it much harder to operate. Hence lean designs and only the necessary features make an LMS successful and scalable.
Work as Native
In order for an LMS to function seamlessly, a downloadable application must also be an option for the users. Application developed for Android or iOS allows the app developers to design and integrate features as per the operating system. This kind of development also lets LMS consume less bandwidth letting the learners download and access the learning content even when they are offline.
Considerations When Developing Mobile-First LMS
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Learning management systems being high on demand in organizations and educational institutes, development of the same requires some key considerations.
Sequential Screening
Users require switching devices, which can have different screen sizes and resolutions while accessing content on LMS. The mobile app development services needs to focus on the LMS back-end and make it flexible so that it can adapt to any transitions without impacting the performance and network connectivity.
Performance/Content
Unlike desktops, mobile phones have small screens giving developers less opportunity to design. Designers must ensure to integrate salient features in order to maintain the balance between content and performance ranging from navigation, scrolling, system layout, and usability.
Change Management
The crux of a successful app is flexibility and the ability to scale with the changing needs of the business as well as the market. It is also essential to comprehend the methodologies and the designing principles of a different platform where LMS can run.
Integration with Latest Tools
Despite disparate devices, the data spread must be cohesive. Your LMS must be able to grab and use data while complying with third-party apps. Apps such as Big Data and business intelligence tools used by the companies for better organization and management should be easily integrated with LMS. Other than these, security tools such as anti-malware tools, intrusion detection tools, and more must also be easily integrated to enhance the capability and seamless operation of the LMS.
Let’s take a walk through the technology stack that can make up a robust learning management system.
Technology Stack for Powerful LMS Mobile-First Development
Front-end Development
Also known as client-side development, the front-end is what users see. This side of the development is always intriguing and engaging, hence it is essential to hire a reliable UI/UX designer with extensive knowledge of the latest tools and technology for layout and images. Technologies like –
JavaScript
A text-based scripting language helps in developing interactive elements that add beauty to a static page.
Node.js
A Javascript runtime environment based on Java’s engine, Node.js is best suitable to develop gamification. The pre-written code and collection of scripts help developers to quickly develop LMS thereby enhancing interactions with learners.
HTML/CSS
CSS is another front-end tool that enhances the visual interface of an LMS. HTML, on the other hand, is used to relate, manipulate, and refer information. Together HTML and CSS can deliver extensive visuals and functionality.
Back-end Development
The back-end is also referred to as a server-side critical for developing a robust and performance-optimized LMS. However, there are multiple tools and technologies that can be used to develop the back-end of an LMS, we will discuss a few, like –
PHP
An open-source programming language that relies heavily on data transmission. PHP is best for prototyping as well as easy to implement. With PHP, companies can create advanced-level applications even from scratch. PHP supports all platforms and integrates with many frameworks.
SQL
Unlike other programming languages, SQL can aid the admin to define how the client and server would interact. SQL usually runs at the heart of LMS, allowing control, access, and manipulation of the database. Different database objects can be created using SQL, which is highly useful for data analytics.
Symfony
A sophisticated and open-source PHP framework that lets developers develop even the most complex LMS architecture. Symfony is in-built with extensive code, which is easy to deploy, making a viable choice for the developer to reduce the development time & efforts.
MongoDB
MongoDB has a JSON-type structure that stores data in the form of documents, unlike SQL. The best attribute of a JSON database is it is free from constraints. MongoDB is also much more flexible than any other database. The code structure stored in MongoDB is BSON which offers quick operation, deployment, parsing, and much more.
Cloud Solutions
Google Cloud
One of the powerful computing platforms preferred by the developers building native apps. Integrating Google’s cloud platform uses the cloud to compute and store data. Google cloud also renders a better user experience by offering high flexibility, server-less environment, future-proof infrastructure, and enhanced efficiency.
AWS
Amazon is another giant that offers brilliant cloud computing services. The platform is undoubtedly more refined that stands out from the crowd. The enormous set of cloud tools makes it easy to deploy apps on the AWS cloud. The cloud platform also offers intense analytics, a structured database, and extensive deployment tools requisite for a developer to make a complete LMS solution.
In A Nutshell –
Learnings have moved from the conventional ways to desktops and now to mobiles. With the increasing technologies and new trends, developers have to struggle with keeping up with the changing needs.
Integrating the right tech stack eliminates stumbling barriers ensuring scalable solutions. However, developing mobile-first LMS requires developers & designers to pick minimal designs with salient features that deliver the right functionality and captivating designs to meet the objective. These were a limited tech stack within the multiple options available & preferred by developers and designers. Which is your preferred technology stack for developing mobile-first LMS?
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Author’s Bio: Alicia works with the editorial team of A3logics, a leading company offering product engineering services. Exploring the latest technologies, reading about them, and writing her views have always been her passion. She seeks new opportunities to express her opinions, explore technological advancements, and document the details. You can always find her enjoying books or articles about varied topics or jotting down her ideas in a notebook.