As the way people use the internet changes, website design must also change. The new standard is responsive web design or, more formally, mobile responsive website design. What it is takes a bit to explain. But why it matters is most easily said as it affects your bottom line.
Elements of Responsive Web Design
In the early days of the internet, the thought of smartphones, tablets, and wearables were just a that, thoughts! So websites were built with desktops and laptops in mind. That meant horizontal scrolling was acceptable, as was the use of Flash and a few other design features that have thankfully fallen out of use. It also meant that once smartphones and tablets did come along, designers were making multiple versions of the same website to fit different screen dimensions.
Luckily, a programming language rolled out a great feature to make all that extra work obsolete. Flash forward to today and media queries, as the feature is known, are one of the cornerstones of responsive web design. The other two components are fluid grids and flexible text and images.
Media Queries
Since 2012, media queries became the recommended standard for responsive web design. There is a very complex explanation of what it is, but simply put it is the bit of instructions built into your website to tell it what layout to display. For example, media queries will tell your website to display for an Android phone or an Apple laptop. Other things they are responsible for include orientation of the website and which elements to display. We’ve all experienced looking at a website on a laptop or desktop only to find when loaded on a mobile device, the information looks a bit different. Now you know why!
Fluid Grids
Using fluid grids makes the site design scalable and flexible. It doesn’t make sense to have a massive logo at the top of a smartphone display taking up half the screen, does it? A fluid grid ensures that the sizing and spacing are perfect on everything from a smartwatch to a desktop.
Flexible Text and Images
Flexible text and images rely on code to make website layouts generate legibly. Depending on screen width, text will need to wrap in different locations. There is also line spacing and size to consider. Maybe for smaller screens, there’s no need for a collage of massive photos. Instead a carousel of smaller images might be a better choice. Or maybe they don’t need to be a part of the mobile experience at all! All of that is done by the flexible text and images code.
Why Responsiveness Matters
Starting in 2018, Google’s indexing has been mobile-first. This means that no matter how much work went into creating the perfect website for your company, if it is not optimized for mobile use, its ranking is negatively affected. As Google drives over 90% of all web search traffic, it’s best to comply with their wishes. And they wish all websites to be accessible on every kind of device. Thus responsive web design is now the standard in web design.
Beyond complying with Google, having a responsive site can have a big impact on your income. Mobile use continues to rise and the likelihood of a potential customer coming across your website on a tablet or smartphone is greater than not. What they see on that smaller screen needs to make the same impact as larger monitors while also being tailored to users on the go. For example, if you’re a local dry cleaners, your mobile site might skip the cute video of your specific cleaning process and instead have the clickable address and phone number front and center linking to a map with directions or call the store.
Customers value convenience and ease of use on their mobile devices. Responsive web design allows for both of those while minimizing the need for maintenance on your end! Remember, responsiveness means there does not need to be multiple versions of the same site to upkeep.
If you’re ready to optimize your website for the best user experience across all devices or looking to have your first website built, don’t hesitate to contact us for a quote!
