If you work in the field of website design and development or are thinking about the look and feel of your own website, you’ve likely heard of responsive web design. With so many different devices now at our fingertips, it’s an increasingly common concept.
So, what is responsive web design, and why is it important? In the guide below, we explore the basics of this design approach, what it involves, and how a responsive web design might help your business.
For expert advice on responsive web design and other website solutions, contact the friendly team at practiceedge today.
What Is Responsive Web Design and Why Does It Matter?
Responsive web design (RWD) makes web content adaptable to a wide variety of devices, screen sizes and orientations. Across desktop computers, laptops, smartphones and more, it ensures content renders properly, works as intended, and looks great.
In today’s digital age, where many of us have a PC or MacBook, iPhone or Samsung Galaxy, Kindle or iPad, or two or more of the above, responsive web design is a powerful tool that provides users with an optimal experience, no matter what device they’ve got handy.
The rise of smartphones in particular has fuelled the demand for responsive web design. The more we rely on our phones to browse the web, the more important it becomes for websites to be mobile-friendly. Otherwise, they can lose businesses valuable traffic and revenue opportunities.
Responsive web design is also an important part of search engine optimisation (SEO), a process that seeks to improve the ranking of websites in search engine results and increase user traffic. When scanning websites, Google and other search engines favour mobile-friendly content.
How Does Responsive Web Design Work?
Relatively new and still evolving, responsive web design offers a fresh approach to designing online assets and environments. Through a range of elements and rules, it seeks to accommodate user behaviour and make online experiences as seamless and intuitive as possible.
Previously, the developers of a website would build one custom design for, say, desktop computers, plus a second design for tablets, a third design for mobile phones, and so on. Now, the aim is to have one overarching design that automatically updates for each category of users.
Responsive web design comes to life through HTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). These online languages determine the content and layout of a webpage in a specific browser. Meanwhile, HTML governs the structure and elements of a page, whereas CSS governs the overall HTML design.
Key Components of Responsive Web Design
Responsive web design primarily consists of a combination of flexible grid foundations, flexible images, and media queries. Together, these components create a smooth user experience across devices.
1. Flexible Grids
Flexible grids utilise relative unit measurements like percentages instead of fixed measurements like pixels. In a flexible grid, the size of different elements adjusts in proportion to the screen size. This fills the screen space available with content and provides a consistent feel across devices.
2. Flexible Images
With responsive web design, visual content like images is scaled up or down in size without exceeding the dimensions of its surrounding container. As the images are flexibly resized, they maintain their aspect ratio and avoid a strange overflow effect. This flexibility can be achieved by adding CSS properties like max-width: 100%.
3. Media Queries
In addition to flexible grids and images, responsible web design often involves media queries, also known as breakpoints. Media queries are a CSS feature that deliver different style elements tailored to the characteristics of a device, including screen width, height, orientation (landscape or portrait), screen resolution, and how much colour can be rendered.
How Do I Know if My Website Works Across Devices?
Are you curious whether your website already has a responsive web design? There are a variety of ways to check this, including through manual testing across different devices, requesting feedback from users, and online tools like mobile-friendly tests and Google PageSpeed Insights.
One simple way to check responsiveness is through the Inspect element in your internet browser. Here’s how you do it in Chrome:
- Right-click on your webpage
- Select ‘inspect’ in the menu that appears
- Select ‘toggle device toolbar’ to compare how your site appears in different resolutions.
Benefits of Responsive Web Design
If you are considering investing in responsive design for your website, there are many potential benefits to keep in mind.
Ultimately, it ensures you only need one version of your website. From images to fonts, any HTML elements on your web pages will be configured to fit a wide range of devices and screen sizes, from the largest iMac down to the smallest Android.
This creates an easy and visually engaging experience for users, without the usual lengthy redirects between custom versions of a website. It can also reduce workloads for your web developers and designers.
Ensure Your Web Design is Responsive With practiceedge
At practiceedge, we draw on a wealth of digital marketing expertise and the latest trends in design and development to build high-performing websites across the healthcare industry. We pride ourselves on the way we ensure our websites are compatible and effective on all screen sizes and device types. No matter the nature of your business, we ensure your website is fast, secure, and fully responsive, no matter where you’re viewing it from!
Are you building a new website, or suspect your current one could look and perform a lot better? To discuss potential web design and development solutions, schedule a call with us below.
