top of page

What is Responsive Design?



You may ask yourself: Is it really that important if my website is optimized for mobile devices? Well, let us put it this way: Every day, the number of mobile users on the Internet increases. In 2016, the percentage of mobile users surpassed desktop users globally on the Internet. In 2019, Google estimated that 61% of all their searches came from people searching on their phones. The fact of the matter is Google looks at the mobile version of your website to determine how it should rank in the search engine results. In summary- a poor mobile website = low rankings = less traffic. What that means in the long (and short) run is that it has never been more important that your website both works and looks good on mobile devices. In this article, we will quickly cover 5 points on responsive design and why it is essential.

1. What is responsive design?

The idea of responsive design is that the product can adapt itself to any reading device the user may use. It’s more or less like transforming the content into water, mimicking the liquid’s ability to fill any type of glass. This shows that the old way of creating websites, using fixed positions, is all but dead and buried.



2. Why it’s important to be responsive?


The rise of responsive design has to do, in many ways, with the rise of mobile devices. Suddenly, users could go from a laptop wide screen to a smartphone. Fast forward a few years, and users expect to be able to access any website with a huge range of mobile devices. Designers officially can’t ignore the importance of mobile devices, not when there are over 3 billion of them in use out there.




3. Responsive design and mobile-first design.

Mobile-first web design means designing the mobile website first and working up to the desktop version. There are a number of reasons why this approach works well. Mobile websites have more usability concerns (this is mostly due to the lack of screen real estate), so it’s practical and more efficient for the primary focus to be on mobile design.




4. Importance of testing.

Ever wondered why certain websites open differently on your mobile device vis-a-vis on other devices like laptops and desktops? Sometimes, this can hamper the user’s browsing experience, leading to high bounce rates and hence having an impact on sales.

Therefore, every designer and developer must consider the responsiveness of their website design, so that users across devices and browsers have a seamless experience.




5. Future of responsive design.

Responsive design is becoming more critical than ever before, and it is likely to continue to grow in importance. As new devices and screen sizes are introduced, it is important to ensure that your website is optimized for them.


In conclusion, responsive design is a crucial aspect of modern web design. It ensures that your website looks and functions well on all devices, providing a positive user experience, and improving search engine rankings. By following the principles of responsive design, you can ensure that your website is accessible to all users, regardless of the device they use to access it.

Comments


bottom of page