Responsive Web Design

Smart phones and tablets are becoming a crucial part of our everyday lives from quick google searches, directions and online shopping. Where would we be without them?

The demand on mobile internet usage has risen a staggering 16% over the past 5 years. Users often using tablets and smartphones over browsing on laptops.

This change in the way we view online information requires websites to be responsive.

Websites are made to be viewed on an internet browser which is a standard size. When viewing the same webpage on a smaller screen such as on a tablet, the page cannot scale down.

Responsive web design uses techniques that allow a website to flex and adapt the size of the screen. Therefore saving users from having to scroll back and forth across the webpage and allows them to view all of the information by simply scrolling up and down. Allowing for much easier and comfortable web browsing.

If you load your website up on your smartphone or tablet, is it still user friendly and easy to navigate? Sometimes, when caught up in the creative process it can be easy for web designers to overlook the need for a responsive website. This means that a large proportion of your website’s visitors won’t be seeing your beautiful website in all its glory.

As well as being aesthetically pleasing, google likes responsive websites. Because of their algorithms, google will favor websites that have been optimized to be viewed on smartphones and tablets. This can also be a great way to help with your SEO.

So take a minute to examine your website, does it work as well as you’d like? Is it still easy to navigate on a tablet or smartphone? Does it still look lovely? Having a website that can be viewed by anyone on any device is one of the most important things you can do, if not you could be alienating a large percentage of prospective customers.

Responsive web design is a very important consideration when developing any new projects.