Responsive design ensures that websites are easily viewable on smartphones and tablets in addition to desktop screens. Sites that use responsive design adjust automatically so content fits into the columns and is readily readable no matter what the device or screen size. Visitors can shrink the screen size by dragging its margins and still view its columns and images.
With mobile devices now ubiquitous and more people connecting to websites more often from smartphones and tablets, responsive website design has become a necessity.
Consumers rely on smartphones more than ever to help them shop for products and services. Mobile website viewers may have already surpassed desktop users. Yet 46 percent of mobile users reported problems viewing static sites, and 44 percent said navigation with small devices was troublesome.
According to Google’s Mobile Path to Purchase report, consumers spend over 15 hours a week researching products on their smartphones). Almost half (48 percent) of mobile device users begin their web use with a search engine. The next favorite starting points are branded websites (33 percent) and branded apps (26 percent). Because they are easier to navigate and read on mobile devices, responsive websites produce more leads and provide a competitive advantage
Elements of Responsive Design
Experts offer these tips for creating responsive web designs. When building or rebuilding a corporate or brand website, these guidelines will help you understand what’s needed to achieve a successful responsive design.
Templates. Consider website services offering templates with responsive design such as WordPress.org. Organizations can adopt a template to meet their needs, perhaps with adjustments. WordPress is a viable option for many organizations seeking static websites as well as blogs. It may surprise you that WordPress is now the underlying development tool for almost 1/3 of all websites.
Media queries. If your organization already has as static Web page, you’ll need to include CSS3 media queries to the site’s style sheets to make the site responsive. Media queries define the pixel width screen sizes for different devices. For example for a 480-pixel screen, the command would be @media screen (min-width: 480 px) {
Because time and budget constraints may limit the number of sizes addressed in style sheet codes, you may need to concentrate on screen sizes resolutions based on your website visitors.
Fluid grids. Fluid grids keep the website content in proportion to the page and ensure elements appear how they are intended. Not too long ago, liquid grids were a popular option. But those grids, which expand the page and center content, can distort the page and lead to blurriness or low-definition on some devices.
Follow these steps to calculate the proportions of website elements for fluid grids.
• Create a mock- up of the website in an image editor like Photoshop or Dreamweaver.
• Measure the page element and divide it by the width of the full page, (the container).
• Multiply the result by 100 to find a percentage value.
• Include the percentage values in the site’s style sheets.
For example, if the website is 960 pixels across, and your target element is 200, your equation would look like: 200/960=.20833×100=20.8333 percent. Don’t round the numbers following the decimal point. That can impact the design.
Fluid images. In a proper design, images shrink without distortion. The simple solution is to include the code img { max-width: 100%; }
This stops the image from becoming stretched or pixelated because it won’t be larger than their pixel value. If their parent container is smaller than the image, images will shrink to fit the space.
Design for accessibility. Strive for an easy-to-navigate, user-friendly website. Mobile designs can hide sidebars and headers for some screen sizes. Consider what information should remain regardless of screen sizes. In addition, links and tabs should be available through both mouse and finger clicks.
In the past, web designers created separate, stripped down mobile-friendly versions that typically offered inferior user experiences in terms of content and design. Those kinds of separate designs are now out of style. Responsive web design, or employing the same code for all devices, is now the recommended best practice.
Resources
Beginner’s Guide to Responsive Web Design
Treehouse
The 2014 Guide to Responsive Web Design
Treehouse
4 Critical Steps to Making Your Website Responsive
Website Magazine
What Is Responsive Website Design?
Verve
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
Responsive design makes websites adaptive across a wide range of devices that are used to browse the internet, such as of desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile phones.