In 2022, users won’t put up with a website that doesn’t provide a positive experience. If it takes too long to load, is clunky, or is structured in a way that doesn’t make sense, your potential customers are likely to head straight to your competitors.
This is true across all devices, from traditional desktop computers to smartphones. You don’t need to be a professional developer to understand that these two devices tend to have very different screen sizes. How can you guarantee your website is functional across both?
The answer is fairly simple — using a strategy known as responsive web development. Responsive web development arose in response to the rapid increase in users relying on their mobile to access the internet. If you think back to ten or fifteen years ago, most of the websites you visited on your mobile device were probably pretty hard to navigate. We tended to put up with it back then — after all, smartphones were a relatively new and exciting invention. You won’t get away with it these days: users and Google’s algorithms will punish you.
What is responsive web development?
A responsive website is one that can be accessed on all devices, regardless of the screen size. Responsive websites are built using Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, with flexible grids, layouts, and images.
People often confuse responsive web development with adaptive web development. Adaptive web development involves designing multiple versions of the same page to satisfy a number of different screen sizes — for example, a smartphone, laptop, and tablet. Responsive web development, on the other hand, involves designing only one version of a page that will automatically configure itself depending on screen size.
Why is having a responsive website important?
Most of the websites you visit these days are responsive, particularly if they were built in the last five years or so. This shift towards responsive web design was instigated by Google back in 2017, when they announced they would be rolling out mobile-first indexing.
Mobile-first indexing is an SEO practise that Google introduced in response to the increased number of people using smartphones to access the internet. In 2022, brand new websites introduced to the world wide web are indexed by Google’s bots as per their mobile version. If you don’t offer users a positive mobile experience, your SEO performance is going to suffer.
Of course, you should want to provide users with a positive experience simply as a courtesy and to increase the likelihood they’ll do business with you. Having a responsive website is part of this.
Building a responsive website
If you’ve employed a professional team that provides web development services, you don’t have to worry too much about technical specifics. However, it can help to have a basic knowledge of how a responsive website works.
You’ve probably heard of the terms CSS and HTML before but perhaps don’t quite understand what they mean. HTML is a coding language that controls the structure, elements, and content of a web page. CSS, on the other hand, dictates the design and layout of elements.
When building a responsive website, a web designer will follow specific CSS principles that enable a website to adjust accordingly to the size of the user’s screen. Other underlying principles you may hear discussed by web developers when talking about responsive development include:
● Media queries
● Fluid layouts
● Flexbox layout
● Responsive images
● Speed
I’m using a CMS platform to build my website — will it be responsive?
This is a common question asked by many business owners. If, for example, you are using WordPress to build your new company website, whether or not the site is responsive will really depend on the theme you (or your developers) choose to use. There are plenty of responsive themes out there so make sure you mention this as a point of priority to your development team.
Responsive vs. adaptive — what’s the difference?
Another common point of confusion for beginners is the difference between responsive and adaptive web design. Many people incorrectly assume they are the same process. While they do produce quite similar end results, a responsive website is completely fluid and will be able to adapt to whatever size screen a user has. An adaptive website, on the other hand, is one that uses static layouts. Developers will generally design for six common screen sizes, giving the appearance of a responsive website.
If you have further questions about responsive web development, consider reaching out to a professional team who provide web development services today. They’ll be able to give you an indication of how long it will take to build your dream website and what the approximate cost will be.
Marta Jordan is a professional writer & blogger, who writes for a variety of online publications and loves working with words of all shapes and sizes.
