What, Why and How of Responsive Web Designs

Web designers and bloggers all over the internet have been screaming at the top of their lungs about responsive web design for past few years. It is probable by now you may feel "Okay, YES I got the concept! Can't just anybody around here tell me how to get one?" Well guess what, I'm writing this piece just to tell you that.

Responsive Web Design in short

To summarize responsive designs once again a zillion^th time -

• Designs which adapt themselves with respect to the screen size.
• It is an ideology not a technology.
• It focuses on providing user maximum amount of information via any type of source.
• The mere content and pictures don't shrink, the layout adapts itself to the size of the screen.

Why Responsive Web Design

Once again widely searched and answered question's response-

• 2.1 billion subscriptions of mobile-broadband (Forbes)
• As of 2013 73.4 % mobile user access internet from their mobile which is likely to grow up to 90% by 2017 (Statista)
• In US already 90% of mobile users prefer their mobile to go online (Forbes)

The need for a responsive design is very much evident from such a staggering statistic. If you wish to understand more about it and its need then visit this infographic present in an intricately worded article by Joshua Steimle on Forbes magazine.

To come back to the point which I made you wait for is-

How to get Responsive Web Design

For a responsive design you'll have to be very cautious and thorough at every juncture of the process of website development.

• Clear you basics: I wrote all the above stuff because it is very important your basics are clear before you begin your journey towards a responsive website.
• Choose Wisely: It is necessary to choose a web design agency well versed in responsive design and capable enough to do it..
• Check credentials: Check the credentials of the agency not by reading the testimonials on their website rather by checking their work on a number of different platforms yourself.
• Technical Aspects: Understand a few technical aspects before you talk to a web design agency, so they do not consider you a naive customer. For example ask them what type of framework they will use for your website. Bootstrap and Foundation are two popular CSS frameworks used these days.
• Testing and debugging: These two are very important,so this processes should be carried out by a competent agency only so either hire a freelance for a second opinion or make sure the web design agency you have chosen is capable of testing the website in all the possible conditions then debugging the code.

These are some of the checkpoints you have to clear if you want to complete this race and make a responsive website.

Why Responsive Website Design is a Requirement not just a Feature

It is highly unlikely that you are a smart phone user and have never browsed a website in your phone. If you haven't, it is probable that you must be learning how to do that as we speak. My point being that most of the internet traffic nowadays is channeled via smart phones and thus the problem, of how to build websites that are flexible enough to suit any platform. By now you might have guessed the solution to the stated problem(as its quite obvious from the title) is Responsive Website Design (RWD) . So, let us take a deeper look and understand what a responsive design is.

According to CNN, mobile phones were responsible for 55% of internet usage in USA around January 2014. while stats regarding people accessing net from their desktops vs mobile are:

• Mostly via Desktop — 11 percent
  
• Evenly split between both mobile and PC — 28 percent
  
• Mostly via mobile — 37 percent
  
• Only via mobile — 23 percent
  

Therefore, it is quite apparent that flexibility of a website, or its being responsive in different platforms is an essential necessity.

So if you have browsed enough websites from your mobile then you might have come across certain websites whose texts are misaligned or have too much sideways scrolling. These are some of the many flaws that Responsive Website Design has overcome quite brilliantly as it offers complete functionality, optimum readability and can be easily used such that it remains consistent across various platforms and screen sizes.

If you are still not convinced why RWD is the need of the hour then take a look at these staggering stats concerning web browsing via mobiles :

• 74% of consumers will wait 5 seconds for a web page to load on their mobile device before abandoning the site.

• 46% of consumers are unlikely to return to a mobile site if it didn't work properly during their last visit.
• There are over 2 Billion people accessing the web from their mobiles.

As the data suggests the future of websites is in responsive design and you can find a lot of web designers, like us at honeyvig's Web development services who are working to make your website responsive and flexible. For those who think its just a passing phase and RWD is just another feature need to be vigilant for time is ruthless and the future is moving beyond your desktop screen.

Sources:-

http://marketingland.com/outside-us-60-percent-internet-access-mostly-mobile-74498

http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/28/technology/mobile/mobile-apps-internet/

http://www.gomez.com/wp-content/downloads/19986_WhatMobileUsersWant_Wp.pdf

http://www.gomez.com/wp-content/downloads/19986_WhatMobileUsersWant_Wp.pdf

http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/infographic-2012-mobile-growth-statistics/