Responsive Web Design
Responsive web design is an essential tool for website designers today. Responsive web design enables web designers to create websites that are fluid for any type of computing devices. This means that by using responsive web design, will help user’s access websites on a wide range of computing devices. The structure, layout and user experience of the website will not change for the users if they visit the same website using different computing devices. Basically the website is “flexible” and takes the shape and size of the computing device without changing the structure and layout of the website. This enables the users to view the website without missing out on essential details or having to scroll and keep searching for important information on the website. With responsive web design a website will be able to fit a large screen desktop computer properly and also fit into the screen of a tablet or a mobile phone.
Responsive Web Design Basics
• Most website designers today use responsive web design for creating websites. During the development of the website however, it is essential that the website owner stress on the importance of responsive web designing.
• The term Responsive Web Design was coined in 2010 when the need for responsive web design was first becoming apparent in the tech world.
• Google, which is the world’s most popular search engine for years now, has recommended responsive web design for every website.
The Importance of Responsive Website Design
Why did Google recommend responsive website design? Why is it so important? Why are most websites on the planet today adopting responsive web design for their websites? The following are some of the reasons why responsive web design is essential for website and for the internet:
• Internet access today is not only restricted to desktop computers or laptops. There are wide ranges of computing devices that are used to access the internet. This includes personal computers, office desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones. The key aspect to remember is that the above mentioned computing devices have very different screen sizes. For example a personal computer may have a large screen but a mobile smartphone has a very small screen in comparison.
• Because of the variation in screen size, responsive web design is needed so that the website remains fluid and fits different screen sizes.
• Mobile phones and tablets have become very popular in the last few years. Today smartphones are used not just by the urban populations but have penetrated the rural markets around the world as well. This means that more and more people all over the world are using these mobile devices to access the internet.
• Mobile smartphones and tablets are fast gaining market share when it comes to computing devices used to access the internet. This means that more and more people every year are using mobile phones and tablets for the internet and Google statistics show that every year the percentage of people conducting Google Searches through the mobile smartphones and tablets is increasing rapidly.
• Over a billion smartphone devices have been sold across the world. Mobile internet makes access to the internet very easy. One can access the internet using a data card or Wi-Fi from any location. A smartphone or a tablet is very portable and convenient to carry around. People can access websites from any location as long as they have internet connectivity. This means more and more people are likely to visit websites through tablets and smartphones than ever before.
• If this is the case, then user experience of the website on the mobile smartphones or tablets has to be optimal. Responsive web design ensures that mobile website design is to the expectations of the users accessing the websites through their mobile devices. Viewing the content, its text and images on mobile devices becomes much easier using this enabling tool.
• Responsive web design also improves conversion rates for the websites. This means for example if an ecommerce website has a responsive web design on their website, it is likely to be more successful than a shopping website that does not have responsive web design. This is because more and more people are using tablets and mobile phones to trade online or shop using ecommerce websites. So responsive web design ensures optimal viewing on mobile devices and improves conversion rates.
• It is very likely that your competition has already converted their website into a responsive web design enabled website. So to stay with the competition or even go ahead of the competition it is essential to have responsive web design on your website.
As newer innovations improve consumer electronics and internet becomes more and more accessible to the people around the world, websites have to adapt to changing times. A well created website which can be accessed from various different computing devices is likely to be more successful than a website that does not include responsive web design during creation and development of the website.
