I think they used separate style sheets. Going way back in time, to the early days of smartphones and back when non-smartphones had mobile web browsers, most websites would serve either a separate style sheet that gave a simplified layout for tiny screens or even an entirely different, simplified page. Early adopters to mobile browsing tended to hang on to that separation much longer than newer sites that took advantage of CSS that could adapt to the screen size.
I think they used separate style sheets. Going way back in time, to the early days of smartphones and back when non-smartphones had mobile web browsers, most websites would serve either a separate style sheet that gave a simplified layout for tiny screens or even an entirely different, simplified page. Early adopters to mobile browsing tended to hang on to that separation much longer than newer sites that took advantage of CSS that could adapt to the screen size.
A simpler layout and usually a more lightweight page in general because mobile data was slow and expensive back then.
If someone wanted people to actually use their site on the go, they had to make it load quickly and not cost $5 worth of data doing it.
That’s a good point; modern pages would choke our old 2G/3G plans!
Yeah, this is a remnant of Wikipedia supporting mobile devices really early.
Honestly I generally prefer the desktop sites and just zooming in than mobile sites that tend to badly fit everything on the screen.
Most mobile browsers will let you force desktop mode. So if you want to you can do that.
McDonald’s mobile website is especially bad with folding phones (first world problems) so I have it constantly enabled for that site.
Yeah and I do but it often doesn’t respect the setting.