Responsive web design is a new web development technique that enables developers to create a website that resizes itself or responses to the size of the device whether it is a smartphone, tablet, a laptop or a personal computer. In fact, smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices have seen exponential growth over the years and as a result, websites with responsive design have become one of the most popular trends in the web development industry.
The passion for responsive-designed websites is expected to increase simply because more and more people are using smartphones and other smaller devices to browse the Internet. Responsive websites are especially important for small- and medium-sized business owners because they are necessary for them to survive in highly competitive modern world. If they do not embrace responsive design, they will not be able to obtain even their due market share.
The Layout of Responsive Websites:
The responsive web design is used to build a single website that is visible on all devices with different screen sizes. As a matter of fact, a single website will have different elements that are compatible with different devices such as tablets and smartphones. Responsive sites are different from the traditional websites in many respects.
As compared to a website with responsive design, a traditional or fixed website might seem to have three columns when you see it on a desktop. But you will have to scroll that site horizontally if you see it on smaller screens and most of the users simply don’t like to do that. Moreover, you might miss some of the elements completely or they might be distorted.
A responsive website design automatically adjusts the resolution and appearance of the website according to the size of the device. These sites have light graphics and therefore, load quickly on tablets and smartphones and other similar devices. The content is always easy to navigate and read because they display only two columns when viewed on smaller screens. Sometimes the content is stacked vertically or might also appear in a single column. Furthermore, responsive web design will adjust the images according to screen size rather than distorting it.
The Working of Responsive Websites:
In the context of above discussion, it is important for everyone to understand what is a responsive website and how does it appear to users. In these sites, all elements are sized according to proportion instead of pixels while they mostly use fluid grids. For instance, you will not determine the width of each column independently but will determine the width in relation to the other columns in the website. Similarly, you have to customize other media such as images relatively as well in order to get an effective and well organized responsive site.
Other Important Features of Responsive Website Design:
Download Speed and Graphics:
Traditional sites take a long time to load on smartphones simply because they have a lot of graphics and content as compared to responsive design website. Responsive sites effectively resolve this problem by displaying fewer graphics and images on smartphones to load a website fairly quickly. Furthermore, websites having responsive design will increase the download speed as well.
Mobile Versions and Apps:
One of the biggest advantages of responsive design website is that a single website will be enough for so many different types of devices available in the market. The wide variety of these devices means you are no longer able to create an Android or iPhone app or mobile version for each and every one of them and this is where responsive websites comes to your rescue. Simply create a single website with different features or elements that can adjust themselves when viewed on different screen sizes.
Eliminating Redirects:
Having multiple sites for various devices also means that you have to redirect the users to appropriate or compatible version of the site for the device they are using but this is not the case with responsive design website. If you eliminate the redirects altogether, you will enable your reader to go through the web content as quickly as possible.
Why Use Responsive Websites:
Some people and even experts are skeptic about the performance of websites with responsive designs. Although, these sites are not without any problem yet this is the part and parcel of any new technology. It is important for people especially businessmen to learn what is responsive website/web and how it could benefit them in the long run.
An increasing number of business owners are adopting responsive website design due to the fact that there has been a constant rise in the sale of smartphones and tablets of late. Some of the businesses have also experienced 50% increase in the traffic coming from these devices. Therefore, it has become absolutely necessary for business owners to understand what is responsive website/web to outperform their rivals and achieve success they dream of.
The Importance of Responsive Web Design
Responsive web development is a technique or simply a website design that creates system or website that will respond to user’s screen size. Website responsive design is able to create responsive and flexible web pages and will totally customize and optimize browsing experience of the users. Responsive website is especially optimized to run smoothly and effectively on any device you are using whether it is a personal computer, laptop, tablet or a smartphone.
An increasing number of people are using smartphones and tablets to browse Internet and responsive design websites seem to be the simplest and only way to target audience across multiple devices and provide them with a seamless and fantastic user experience. In fact, responsive websites are becoming increasingly important because the majority of people use multiple devices, most important of which are tablets and smartphones, to browse Internet for different purposes.
Following lines explain some important reasons why it is important to have a responsive website these days.
- Helps You to Reach More Mobile and Tablet Users:
Responsive website is the result of abundance of web applications available on tablets and mobiles and increasing use of Internet. The greatest advantage of responsive site is that you can use it on multiple devices instead of using a traditional approach of directing the users to a device specific website.
Many people who run online businesses still do not understand what are responsive design layouts but they need to learn more about the concept sooner rather than later. If you are the one who is looking for optimizing your online content to reach more customers, you have to adopt responsive design website because the sale of tablets is expected to exceed 100 million this year. It has never been so important to make a website that can accommodate small screens as effectively as bigger ones because some websites are already experiencing 50% increase in their traffic coming from multiple devices.
- Increased Conversion Rates and Sales:
The website with responsive design simply means that you need not to redirect the users proving them an improved user experience and this is perhaps the biggest advantage of such websites. Furthermore, you can impart a permanent feel and look by using integrated design and features like CSS sheets. This will make it easier for users to use and navigate your site on any device if they are familiar with the layout, which in turn will definitely have positive impact on your conversion rates.
Responsive design websites also effectively resolve some of the problems that traditional sites create for users such as poor performance and functionality as well as inconsistent feel and look. Following are some of the benefits of using responsive website for your business.
- Get Higher in Search Rankings:
Ranking higher in search engines, especially in the Google, is the ultimate goal of every website and websites with responsive design layouts are the way to go in this regard. You need to spend less time to maintain these sites as you only need a single set of hyperlinks to optimize them for search engines. This enables you to formulate comprehensive Search Engine Optimization Strategy especially focusing on link outreach. SEO campaigns are not doubt expensive and time consuming but responsive web development will help you to concentrate your efforts on one site that is compatible with all devices helping you to save precious time and a lot of money.
- Consolidate your Reporting and Analyses:
If you use a traditional website instead of a website responsive design, you will eventually have to use more than one site to accommodate different browsing platforms. This will naturally make it very difficult for you to keep track of total number of visitors coming on these sites, individual and overall conversion rate as well as the number of visitors moving from one site of yours to other. On the contrary, responsive design websites are equipped with optimized analytics to handle responsive reporting and multiple devices. This will condense all of your analytics and reporting in a single report and they will keep on functioning normally as well allowing easier monitoring and maintenance.
- Save Time and Money on Web Development.
Instead of developing a traditional standalone website, responsive web development will allow you to save considerable amount of time and money. As a matter of fact, you will also have to provide extra development support and your maintenance overhead will also increase if you have multiple websites for different devices. It is better to use responsive website testing technique for responsive websites that will considerably decrease your expenditures.
- Save Time and Money on Website Management:
As clients have to manage much less content on a responsive website, they will also find it less time consuming and easy to manage a single site. In addition, it is typically easier to optimize a single administrative interface as you can manage the current content with the help of different workflows and layout tools or by using the same template for different devices. Moreover, the single administration will enable you to considerably enhance the overall multi-device user experience by easily applying basic business logics.
- Users can Enjoy Improved Offline User Experience:
Website responsive design permits webmasters to produce quality content for various users for different devices. They can easily access the site “on the go” thanks to exception browsing capabilities HTML 5 offers. It will become imperative for the business owners to have a responsive site because HTML 5 enabled smartphones and tablets are just to proliferate the market right now and their sale is expected to rise in the near future. HTML 5 hybrid applications have the ability to contain emails, newsletters and other content that users can read without connecting their device to Internet.
Conclusion:
Websites with responsive design layouts will enable you to get a decisive and competitive edge over your competitors and to get your due market share due to the exploding sales of smartphones and tablets. You need to issue several issues such as better conversion rates, visibility in search engines and development and maintenance costs. A responsive website resolves these issues permanently and will also provide a unified design benefiting all stakeholders in best manner possible.
