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Mobile site design option B.  Screen-  scrape

Although it’s not an option we can recommend as best practice, it’s worth noting that a 

number of  high-  profile retail brands like ASOS and John Lewis opted for a temporary 

‘ screen-  scrape’ approach, which involves dropping existing web content into a basic mobile 

site template without opting for  back-  end integration. The advantage of the  screen-  scrape 

approach is that it presents a quick route to market, and avoids contact potential conflict 

between PC web and mobile web developers.

Think through the widespread disadvantages of  screen-  scraping when compared with the 

fully integrated approach, which provides the better  long-  term solution.

● 

The  screen-  scrape option incurs additional time and cost to manage the site, as changes 

to the  back-  end CMS will need to be updated manually on the mobile site, rather than 

benefiting from automatic updates.

● 

A review of ‘ screen-  scrape’ sites reveals an alarming degree of standardisation across the 

sites, and lacks the differentiation that brands demand across their PC websites.