If you haven’t heard the term “responsive web design” before, then you’re probably not alone. However, this won’t be the case for long. Responsive web design started out as a trend that grew in popularity for the way it leant flexibility and ease of navigation to a given website’s set-up. However, it’s quickly moving from simply being a useful concept to setting a new industry standard altogether. That said, it’s important that every serious web designer and entrepreneur learn about its benefits sooner rather than later.
Responsive web design is a concept that focuses on making a given website more easily accessible via a number of interfaces. It’s gaining in popularity and clout to such a high degree because of the way it’s becoming the norm for people to use not only different browsers or screen resolutions to view a given page, but different devices as well. A good website these days needs to look just as good and be just as easy to use on a BlackBerry, Android phone, or iPad tablet as it does a laptop screen or desktop monitor. This calls for web designs that can adapt to fit any circumstance.
This is accomplished by using CSS (cascading style sheets) to develop and code the website in question. These sheets are able to auto-detect the size and configuration of a given viewing screen and effortlessly adjust the site’s content to fit. The result is a flawless, seamless web experience for each and every viewer.
Responsive Web Design Is Better for Business
Once upon a time – and not all that long ago – making your site available and easy to use via multiple devices meant designing a standard site for those visiting on laptops or desktop systems and then developing other alternative sites for mobile phones or other devices. With responsive web design in your corner, you only have to develop one site, as it will be easily adaptable to a wide variety of viewing experiences. You’ll save time and money not only with your initial design, but also when it comes time to update or revamp things in the future as well.
Responsive Web Design Helps Streamline Your Marketing Campaign as Well
Without the need for multiple site designs, you’re in effect carving out a cleaner, clearer path to your business, its products, and its services for your customers. This means that your numbers as far as your web traffic, your conversion stats, and your bounce rates will be more accurate which will make it easier to keep your marketing strategies moving forward into the future.
Most business site owners also see an upswing in the state of their conversion rates when they make the switch to responsive web design. A website that more people can access in exactly the ways that they want to often adds up to more visitors, more repeat traffic, and more actual sales.
Bringing Your Existing Site into the Responsive Web Design Age
Redoing your site to be properly responsive in the way we’re talking about is going to require more than just a few simple tweaks. You’ll need to resign yourself to investing the time and money necessary to build a new version of your site from scratch. While it’s possible to convert it a little at a time instead, this approach is not recommended because of how inefficient it can make your site during the process.
However, it’s important to note that making this investment now will add up to huge savings in not only money, but time and headaches into the future. As we mentioned, responsive web design is the wave of the future. The sooner you jump on the bandwagon, the better!
Matt Dandurand is the CEO of MediaContour.com, offering web design in Los Angeles, CA.
Featured image on home page courtesy of axbom.
