The Basic Fundamentals of Responsive Web Design

As technology is changing and mobile websites are being widely used, the days of website designing are changing as well. It is making web designers rethink the ways to display their work across different devices perfectly. If you pay attention, you would know the difference between how much you use your mobile for surfing as compared to your laptop or desktop. And this is where the world of responsive web design begins.

What is a Responsive Web Design?

Responsive Web Design is a technique that makes a website, its design, and codes,  respond according to the screen size of a device.

In simple terms, it doesn’t matter if you are looking at a website on an Android phone or a 40-inch cinema display it will give you the optimal viewing experience.

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Responsive Website Designing includes flexible images, fluid grids and CSS styling for altering the design aside and making it compatible with the width of the browser. The website designers’ primary aim should be to design the UX and UI of a website seamlessly across various platforms.

Responsive Web Design

Know Why Responsive Web Designing Is Vital

Imagine designing and developing numerous versions of one single website that would work individually for every device that exists today. How does that sound? Impractical, right? Not only will it be impractical but also extremely expensive. The sites will be ineffective and useless for future technology changes and hence will be impossible to maintain. Responsive Web Design templates are an effective way of making your website future-proof.

The most vital part of responsive web design is to be familiar with your users and know the devices they prefer to use to browse your website. You must be aware of your traffic from desktops, tablets, and mobile.

Should be surprised to know that almost 56% of the US website’s traffic comes from mobile devices. In 2 years time, the number of smartphone users will be over the toys of war they are now. Mobile design is becoming more and more important with each passing day.

Designing any website for various devices is vital. However, designing for different web browsers is a complicated job. Every other Browser especially the renowned ones has its versions for mobile, and they render sites differently.

Also, there are many versions of a browser that you must get a for. Troll not everyone uses the latest version. Hence it is critical that you are designing responsive and works across a variety of versions of browsers. And I must tell you that it is a constant battle for everyone in this field. So once you have designed your website test it on as many devices as possible both old and new. Or hire a Responsive Web Design Agency.

Dimensions Of The Websites

It would have been helpful if there was a specific dimension for designing a responsive website. Sadly, no standard size exists for them. People are using countless devices of different sizes, models, and screen resolution that keep changing frequently.

Different users used websites differently at different times. For example, if you are in the kitchen and you want to look at a recipe, you would go for your mobile device. And if you are looking for a tutorial on Photoshop, you would try it on your desktop.

You can use Google Analytics to know what web pages, sizes, and browsers are most famous for your site. But the question still stands. How would you design responsibly without getting mad with endless combinations of browsers, devices, and sizes?

Design Three Layouts At Least

That’s the answer to this question. Any responsive web design should have a minimum of 3 layouts for the width of the different browsers. Although it is not a hard and fast rule yet, you must try it for your convenience.

One layout should be small under 600px for most another layout should be between 600- 900px for displaying your content over most tablets, a few phones with large screen sizes, and small computers like netbooks. The other layout should be large exceeding 900px, and it will show your content on most personal computers.

Make sure that all the layouts have the same graphical and text elements. Have a word which one should be designed for displaying the content depending on the device of the user. If you simply scale down the page for fitting it on a smaller screen, it will make the displayed content unreadable. So instead of scaling down the page scale, the content and make them relative to one another along with switching to one column making it much more readable.

Things To Remember

You must remember that User Experience is vital. Responsive web design must be able to do more than just convert a site fit for the desktop to fit the mobile screen. Instant of designing for the latest device with specific screen dimensions, you must design your site for your content. Pay attention to how the layout and the element will adopt both on desktop and mobile devices.

The experience with mobile devices is much more centered with the limited space as compared to desktops. Hence you must use that Limited space effectively to get across your message to the user clearly and make them understand what your site is about. You should use flexible images so that they adjust easily when the screen size changes. And make sure your navigation is simple and easy. Also, don’t forget to keep yourself updated with the best practices of UI/UX.

With these suggestions in mind and the right tools and resources, you will be able to create a perfectly responsive web design. And if you can’t do that on your own don’t hesitate in taking the help of an expert.

Nathaniel Villa
Nathaniel Villa