I would be very surprised if many of you out there have not yet heard the latest marketing buzz term “responsive deisgn”, but in case you missed it, let’s begin with answering “what is responsive deisgn?” To define it, I like this explanation:
“Responsive Web design, as the name implies, is a style of Web development where content responds to the device on which it is being rendered. So, while a Web site viewed from within a traditional desktop browser might be rendered one way, a tablet or smartphone browser will be smart enough to render that same code in a different way—one that takes into account the size and resolution of a smaller screen. Text is reflowed, navigation is simplified, and images are shrunk, or even hidden entirely, and the code to do it all needs only be written once.” Matthew Braga, Ars Technica – May 17, 2012
Responsive design was born out of a need to adjust to the consumption habits of our audiences – and we, as a society, are shifting more and more towards using moblie phones and tablets to get information.
Tablet sales alone are expected to exceed 100 million this year. And according to Neilsen, the majority of U.S. mobile subscribers now own smartphones, not feature phones. I – for one – get nearly all my information from my iPhone and am lost without it.
But, what does this mean for corporations and businesses large and small? A million new screens have entered into the fray – and we need to consider ALL of them when we design and build websites. We need to make a website that works equally well on every device … and that is responsive design.
We are designing using flexible images and grids that will resize correctly to fit the device you are holding. When a desktop window is made smaller or larger, the layout, fonts and images should downsize or expand accordingly. Another layer of complexity is that the site’s behavior should also be modified depending on the device being used. For example, on a touch device, such as your phone, a swipe will enable certain functions to occur, but that would not be the case if viewing the same site on your desktop browser, so other functionality features need to be built in. Bottom line: we need to design and build a website once to work seamlessly everywhere.
If you are interested in redesigning your website, be mindful that you should consider responsive design into the nacent stages. Failure to do so will mean falling behind and missing a growing, significant part of your audience. Responsive design, as of 2013, can no longer be ignored or pushed aside for a later date. It’s time is now.
To learn more about responsive design, I hope you will leave a comment below or get in touch with us.
~Amy
