Responsive Web Design (or RWD) is an approach to website design that focuses on providing a pleasant and easy-to-navigate experience with any device, regardless of its size and technology. This means minimizing the required amount of resizing, scrolling, and panning needed, ensuring swift and precise navigation on any screen size.
A web page created with RWD uses fluid, proportion-based grids and adjustable images, as well as CSS3 media queries to guarantee that the layout can always be adapted to fit the device. It uses those media queries to find out what resolution your device has and then sizes itself to correctly fit the screen it’s being displayed on.
The Year of Responsive Design
2013 was hailed as the ‘Year of Responsive Design’, partly in response to 2012 being the first year in over a decade to have lower projected PC sales than the previous one. Why? Mobile. The shift to mobile devices is happening at an extraordinary rate, with tablet sales estimated to top notebook sales in the following years.
This means more and more people are accessing web content from a mobile device, and there are hundreds, thousands of models of such devices, all with different screen sizes and resolutions. Building specific, targeted Apps for the major platforms out there used to be the way to go, but now, with a new mobile device coming out every week, it’s becoming near impossible to keep up. The answer then is RWD.
Responsive Web Design
Using RWD to design your website gives you several significant advantages, some of which are listed below:
1.Reach: First of all, using Responsive Design allows you to reach any and all users, no matter what device they browse your site on. This removes many of the barriers of use experienced before, when people simply did not visit certain websites they know could not be viewed on their specific mobile phone or tablet.
2.Sales and Conversion Rates: Using RWD removes to need for multiple sites, each designed with a certain platform in mind. This means no redirections, and more importantly a single, unified look and feel for your site. Users who experience consistency while browsing are far more likely to come back for more.
3.Increased Visibility: Having a single site for all occasions means you also have a single set of hyperlinks, reducing the downtime of your website and optimizing the maintenance process. Additionally, having only one set of links allows you to maximize your website’s visibility with consistent SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
4.Cost and time efficiency: Time and money previously spent on designing and creating new, independent sites for every mobile platform can now be spent on more important aspects. The ability to use standardized testing protocols, as well as a single administrative interface for managing the site are also byproducts of using RWD.
5.Analytics and Offline: Having a sole website for all platforms means that you have a complete view of all incoming traffic, allowing for much easier analysis of consumer trends. Those consumers will also have the advantage of being able to access your website offline, so things like newspapers will become far more appealing for them on their mobile devices.
Dozens of companies that switched to Responsive Web Design have reported massive conversion and revenue increases of up to 600% – and that’s just in the first month. RWD is the new and efficient way to develop your website and expand your business, helping you stay ahead of the curve and ahead of your competitors.
