What is Responsive Web Design?

Responsive web design, or RWD, is one approach to designing a website where a site is developed to provide optimal viewing for any screen or window size, effortless reading and minimal scrolling and panning. RWD is not a single entity of technology, but rather a pool of techniques and ideas that form one whole functional design.

The ever-changing trend of browsers obviously meant that the expectation of people increases. Users were expecting to browse the internet on their smartphones just as convenient as browsing the web on their home computers. With this in mind, web designers around the globe started making mobile versions of their sites. In retrospect, this idea was not really the perfect solution, but it did look like a sensible idea. So, it was common for companies to have two versions of their site – a desktop version and a mobile version. 

To sum it all up, the range screen resolutions and sizes is growing by the day, and making a more than just one version of a site that caters to individual devices is not a sensible step forward. This problem is what responsive web design tackles bluntly.

Main features of Responsive Website Design:

Fluid Grids

One important concept to tackle when talking about responsive web design is fluid grid. Not too long ago, designing a liquid layout that stretches along with the page wasn’t really that prominent. Site designs were preset in terms of the pixels across and centered on the display. With the numerous screen resolutions available in the current market, the advantages of creating a liquid layout are too appealing to pass up. 

Fluid grids take the established liquid layout to whole different level. These grids are more sensibly designed in the context of proportions. This is a better technique than creating a layout based on rigid pixels or subjective percentages. With this concept in mind, whether squeezing a page onto any handheld device or having it stretched-out across a wide display, all elements of the page will automatically adjust their widths in a manner where the whole page will be displayed just as you see it on your home computer.

Media Queries

The subsequent concept of responsive web design is CSS3 media queries. It is presently supported by most of the up-to-date web browsers. CSS3 media queries enable you to collect information about the person visiting the site and utilize it to provisionally operate CSS methods. Can you just imagine how this makes life a lot easier? You can now be accessible to your market with just a few clicks.  

As website designers, it is wise to know that technology is ever-changing. Being updated with the latest innovations is the most effective way of keeping up with your market especially with competition getting tighter and tighter every year. Responsive web design can be quite intimidating, but it can exponentially boost your website’s overall appeal. This “fresher” design will soon no longer be merely a trend—this is the future of web design. So don’t be doubtful about taking that step of transforming your website using the wonders of RWD. 

Big Names Using Responsive Web Design 

A lot of the most successful companies known to man have already jumped the responsive web design bandwagon. This progression has definitely contributed to the continuing success of these big name companies. Here are 10 great examples of successful responsive web design: 

Sony

www.sony.com 

Starbucks

www.starbucks.com

Grey Goose

www.greygoose.com

• Jack Daniel’s - www.jackdaniels.com
• Microsoft – www.microsoft.com
• Time – www.time.com
• Boston Globe – www.bostonglobe.com
• WWF – www.wordlwildlife.org
• Citi Private Pass – www.citiprivatepass.com
• Lycos – www.lycos.com

Advantages of Responsive Web Design 

One thing is for sure; your site needs a responsive design to cater to the ever-increasing number of users who use alternative devices to surf the web. 

Responsive web design enables optimal viewing of your site no matter what device is being used. Listed here are the top advantages of responsive web design: 

• By using responsive web design, your website will be accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The number of people surfing the web while on the move is increasing by the day. Actually, this is one of the main reasons why consumers are making the shift to use mobile devices to surf the web. If you have a site that is not readily accessible to the ever-expanding number of people along with a lot of potential consumers, then you will be losing a ton of opportunities. Do not let your business trail behind competing businesses. 

• Websites that have a mobile version for handheld devices are typically lacking in superior navigational features compared to the site’s desktop version. Users wouldn't want to spend precious time in a site that is poorly designed. Responsive web design is the solution to avoiding this situation by making your site viewable using handheld devices as much as the viewing it on the computer. 

• Responsive web design also helps you in SEO. All websites have links to go to specific pages. But, if separate sites will be made for different devices, you will have a lot of links to handle. Every link has to be sent to the server, thus will add a lot of needless load on the server. Responsive web design helps you avoid this problem by allowing you to have just one dedicated website for all devices and only a single set of links to deal with. 

The success that responsive web design brings to a company is undeniably significant. It is evident because these well known-companies added this element to their already strong campaign. 

This should be more than enough reason for you to take the leap to responsive web design. Not only will you help your company grow, but you will also gain a lot of new customers with your new accessible and responsive website.