Responsive web design has been an essential part of website design for several years. If youâre not a web designer, you may be wondering what this term means. You might also be unsure as to whether or not your website should be implementing responsive design.
Responsive design will make your website mobile-friendly by improving how it looks on devices with both large and small screens, and will increase the time visitors spend viewing your website. Responsive design can also greatly help you improve your rankings in search engines.
What is responsive design?
First, hereâs a quick description of responsive design and how it functions. Responsive design is a way to build a website so that it automatically scales its content to match the screen size on the device it is being viewed on. It keeps images from being larger than the screen, and stop visitors on mobile devices from having to do extra work to read your content like zooming in. The ultimate goal of responsive design is to avoid the unnecessary scrolling, zooming, or panning that would be needed with sites that have not been optimized for mobile devices.
With a responsive website design, all content and pages are adaptable to every screen resolution and device. Whether you’re seeing a website on your cell phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop, it will be easy to navigate despite the varying screen sizes. Providing an ideal experience for the client no matter how you are viewing it.
Why should you invest in responsive design?
We live in a society where most people have a smartphone in their pocket and because of this, it is important for your website to be easily viewable on their device. Responsive web design stats show that itâs wise to appeal to both desktop and mobile viewers. In fact, the number of mobile viewers now outnumbers desktop. This number will continue to rise as global smartphone accessibility continues to increase.
Responsive web design is also an important ranking factor when it comes to SEO. Websites that are responsive will generally load faster which is going to support the website ranking and decrease the bounce rate. SEO campaigns and website maintenance will be a much smoother process with a responsive website design. Responsive web design implies you just have one website to take care of; it’s also quicker and more affordable than making a stand-alone mobile application in addition to your desktop website.
There are numerous responsive web design benefits and if your website isn’t yet responsive then planning a redesign and a new fluid layout is a great first step. It will help you determine which page elements are most important, which pages can be eliminated, and how much you want to keep on your site. Once youâre clear on the direction of your redesign, you can dive into choosing the right platform and the right theme for your site.
