So what does a responsive website mean? A responsive website has pages that display well on almost all devices and screen sizes. Responsive websites became more important as mobile design became more important. As the variety of screen sizes and resolutions increased, developers had to develop more ways to ensure a great user experience, regardless of the device and system being used. Collections of technologies were developed to help create a more standardized user experience.
One of the most important parts of responsive design is called the fluid grid. Previously, developers made websites based on fixed pixels; the fluid grid uses proportions instead of fixed pixels to lay out web pages. Media queries are another important part of responsive design. Media queries allow a website to obtain information about the user’s device and system in order to conditionally apply styles to a website. Media queries can also be used to conditionally style depending on whether a device is in landscape or portrait mode.
Some of the areas that need careful planning to create a responsive website include images and layout structure. Images that would look great on the desktop might look distorted on different devices and resolutions. HTML5 allows the property called data-fullsrc for the image tag. On any screen that is larger than 480 pixels, the highest resolution image will load; for smaller screens, the lowest resolution image will load. Sometimes JavaScript is used for the implementation. For layouts with multiple column layouts, changing the layout for lower resolutions is an important consideration in making sure a website is responsive.
So why does your business need a responsive website? Depending on your business, more users will visit your website from a mobile or tablet device than from a desktop computer. Responsive design is something you want to achieve early on, as issues and redesign will make it significantly more difficult to understand how your website is being used. Working on conversion rate optimization (CRO) and analytics will be more difficult if there are multiple versions of your website. Another reason why building a responsive website is important is that many businesses and individuals will judge the quality of your company and brand by how good your website looks and performs.
Generally, responsive web development is used to make your website look great on all devices (desktop, tablet, and smartphone). Without careful planning, your website might not be useful to certain people trying to use your website and you will generate less net income for your business.