Responsive Website Design
Today, people are viewing websites in any number of different ways - on smartphones, tablets, netbooks, laptops, widescreen monitors and even game consoles.
The problem is that most websites are designed with 'Fixed Design' which is not ideal as people with different screen sizes or media devices are denied a good browsing experience, or worse, the site is not accessible to them at all.
So what\'s the solution?
Responsive Design. Some web designers can now provide adaptive layouts which respond to their environment, totally regardless of the device or browser being used. This is not to be confused with 'fluid design' or 'mobile site design'. 'Fluid design' has been around a while, but it means a site adapts its width, but denies you control over your design as everything is scalable, meaning the website will only function correctly to a certain level.
Responsive Design means complete device and browser compatibility.
This new development will allow your website to react to the device on which it\'s being displayed!
You see, responsive websites don't need to know what device you are using, because they adjust depending on the WIDTH of the browser. We know of one web design company that keeps and continually updates a database of over 20,000 mobile devices and uses it to tell their websites which device is being used so that it can adjust accordingly. This is not TRUE Responsive Design. True responsive design is totally future proof.
You can be sure that a responsive website will display on devices or browsers that have not even been invented yet !
Responsive websites are not just mobile versions. Responsive websites will also display on the smallest devices such as smartphones, but they are not merely mobile versions. Responsive sites will be displayed, WITHOUT the need for the user to zoom in and scroll left and right to access functionality as is common with most mobile sites. Take a look at this website on your smartphone, www.apple.com. This is a perfect example of a mobile site into which you have to zoom in order to access the content. Once you have zoomed in, you also have to scroll around to further access the relevant content.
Contrast that with this Responsive Website www.brightonfilmproductions.co.uk
This is NOT a mobile version of the site, it has adjusted automatically to the screen width. All the relevant functionality and the main details have automatically adjusted. You do not have to zoom in or scroll around (just vertically). Responsive sites do this irrespective of whether your visitor is using an iphone, ipad, tablet, netbook, standard square PC monitor or any device with a browser.
The great thing is that if you have just spent thousands on your company website and design and it's NOT responsive, it's possible to MAKE your existing website responsive. Responsive Design doesn't have to happen from scratch.
You can find out if your website is responsive, and at the same time see what your visitors see on devices of differing widths (ipad, tablets etc) by opening up your website in any browser and resizing the window by dragging in the right hand side. Look what happens, the browser probably chops off the right hand side of the website and there's probably a scroll bar at the bottom. Also try it out with www.apple.com and you'll see the same effect.
Now do the same with www.brightonfilmproductions.co.uk. No horizontal scroll bar, and the content repositions and adjusts to fit the browser width. That's True Responsive Design.
About the Author
Neil Holley-Williams has worked with companies that provide Responsive Design. Neil owns HW Marketing UK, a company that provides affordable website design for UK SME's. For more information you can visit http://www.makeawebsitemobile.co.uk and see a video demo of True Responsive Website Design.
Tell others about
this page:
Comments? Questions? Email Here