What is Responsive Web Design?
In the world we live in today, people have access to all the information they require, which is all thanks to the Internet. People search the web from the desktop and use devices such as laptops, tablets, smartphones, and even smart TVs. Therefore, you must understand “what is responsive web design?” to ensure your site is functional and attractive when accessed and viewed from various mediums.
Before getting into the advantages of having a responsive website design, knowing “What is responsive web design?” is essential. It is a website that adjusts itself to suit any screen, delivering seamless viewership between different mediums. Meaning your site will modify to match the screen from which it is being accessed. It opposes the need to press or scroll horizontally and gives visitors a magnificent UX while on the website.
Basics of Responsive Design
After understanding responsive web design, you need to understand its basics. The two fundamental principles that exist in responsive design are fluid scaling and the use of breakpoints:
Fluid Scaling
Fluid Scaling or fluidity can be accomplished in a few various ways. Still, it will continuously involve em values or percentages to allow a container to compare within the bounds of its father elements and, finally, the browser. In addition, fluid scaling is required to produce responsiveness within breakpoints, maintain the flow of columns in a responsive grid, and increase your real estate.
An easy illustration of a fluidly scaling object can be an HTML page, including one block with a height of “auto” and a width of 100%; as the browser adjusts its width, the block scales beside it. You wish to implement this scaling at the rough level, though fluidity must exist at the highest responsive package level.
Another typical example of fluid Scaling is a grid layout. In a grid layout, virtual blocks are arranged and uniformly spread over the width of the body of a site or package. These blocks are aligned as inline blocks, fixed in width with a father container that is fluidly scaling. If you do this when the browser arrives at the point where the total of all blocks beats its father container, the blocks split into the following line. These blocks are introduced to columns, which could also signify some columns.
Break-points
CSS3 media queries produce restricted limits at which a particular device type browser’s width will trigger alternative styles. Many web developer companies usually use a highest-width breakpoint to form a desktop-first build versus a lowest-width boundary for a mobile-first appearance. Inquiries can also be utilized to determine the height and device orientation.
Breakpoint sizes can be fixed in em or px. However, the difference in current browsers is minor compared to several years back. Breakpoints can be fixed at all sizes, but they mostly join with the general dimensions of every Mobile Landscape, Desktop, Mobile Portrait, and Tablet Portrait. These are mostly 1200/960px, 768px, 480px, and 320px wide, respectively, although industry standards regularly shift as new devices get released.
These devices have started to combine with one another throughout the years, particularly with the initiation of retina displays. As a result, one may find different devices to match the same breakpoint but may also discover that a particular device has a different size, so that is where the following principle comes into action.
Importance of Responsive Site
Now, suppose you are thinking that you can get away without having a responsive website. In that case, you may want to take a peek at a few of the stats revolving around the significance of achieving a responsive design on your website:
Users are customary for visually appealing sites and quick loading, no matter where they enter the website. Unfortunately, they have become so habitual that 40% of internet users will abandon a page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load it, and 70% will quickly delete emails that do not perform well on their cell phones.
Furthermore, 38% will stop engaging with a website with an unsightly layout. Therefore, you can see how not owning a responsive website can lead to losing visitors and eventually decreasing conversions on your site.
Your website’s design has an even more significant influence than you may expect; 94% cited that poor website designs are the principal reason they collectively suspect or refuse a website. Also, about half of users, 48%, take web design as the number one element in ascertaining a business’s reliability.
Again, this points out how valuable your site is regarding trustworthiness among consumers and overall brand satisfaction.
By now, you must already know that not having a responsive website design will hinder your company, but what are the advantages of achieving this type of design on your website? First, 45% of users aged 18-29 use their cell phones daily to browse the internet, and 70% of those mobile searches can affect an hour.
Hence, your current responsive site will tap into the young generation market while producing higher conversion rates.
Responsive designs can be hugely profitable for your company. Four out of five customers shop online on their smartphones, and 67% of online customers are more likely to buy from mobile-friendly websites. 62% who have formed a mobile-friendly site and 64% of websites who have created a tablet-friendly site noticed their sales increment.
The added advantage of being responsive is your improved SEO. Google gave out an algorithm that prioritized responsive websites, so websites without a mobile-friendly site are ranked below those that do. Moreover, how successful mobile devices have become for web access encourages the need to give excellent UX on all programs.
