For any business, whether small or large, a website is the first stop that customers come across to get to know what you are doing. And just because they get the first impression by visiting a website, customers will, based on their stay on it, make a judgment about your business in just a few seconds and decide whether to do business with it and buy a product or not.
Responsive web design is something that no site today can do without and something that will either make your business (if your site supports it) famous or destroy it (if your site is not adapted to all platforms) because it is the best indicator of your ability to recognize the needs of your customers.
And What Exactly Is Responsive Web Design?
Responsive web design is created as a reaction of the Internet to constant changes and new technological trends that began many years ago with a larger number of users searching the web via mobile phones and tablets.
With the advent of responsive web design, it happened that there was no longer just one, standard screen size, but the content on the website had to be adapted to all the screen dimensions from which users viewed the site. Practically, this meant that with a responsive web design, the site could be adapted to the needs of visitors, instead of them adapting to its dimensions and not being able to see the content well.
No one should take responsive web design for granted, consider it a passing trend, or some added value. This web design is standard and always will be. So far, it is already one of the most important parts of the strategy of creating a website, it is no longer an advantage over the competition, and is something that no longer should be discussed.
How Does Responsive Web Design Work?
Web designers say it is not magic or ’higher math’ and they should be trusted. An explanation of how responsive web design works at some basic level looks like this – two components are important for the site to function in responsive mode: one is fluid grids and the other is media-query directives. We will do our best to explain both and how they work.
In the past, sites were designed to have a specific number of pixels on each side, and that meant there was a precise layout plan for a fixed-width site. Everything had its exact size and position in that very inflexible system, which would not change at any cost. However, as trends changed, technology advanced, and screens appeared in different sizes, the idea came up that the look and layout of the elements on the site should be different, flexible, and easily customizable.
Fluid grids are exactly what makes it possible to preserve the necessary proportions regardless of how the page size changes, while all the content on the page (text, photos, links, etc.) remains visible and has the ability to adapt to all necessary sizes.
In order for a site to ‘know’ when someone is viewing from a phone, laptop, desktop computer, or tablet, certain data is needed, which is collected from the user in order for the code on the site to adapt to all the given screen sizes. This is the responsibility of the media-query directives in CSS, which define sections of CSS code and which are valid only in certain circumstances (related to the screen orientation, resolution, etc.). Thus, the data collected in this way provide specific information about each user in order for CSS to adapt to these parameters.
According to web designers, complicated technical experience is important for them in order to perform everything that is needed for responsive design to work but maybe, above all, the strategy and working with the client to implement their needs is more necessary. And before you start making a strategy for creating a website, designers generally have a few important questions for clients before they start designing a site, which helps them set priorities and understand the needs of the client.
Is the Application of Responsive Web Design Really Important?
In short, YES. And now we will explain why. Let’s say you walk into a store and see that everything is scattered around, you cannot find anything, so you cannot approach even to what you see from a distance, and, all in all, there is big chaos – would you stay in the store and buy something or would you run away because of that mess? Customers feel exactly that way when they enter a website or web store from their smartphones or tablets and cannot see anything because the resolution is bad. Then they have to zoom in on the screen and drag their fingers across the screen to see something. And, in the end, it all makes them annoyed very quickly and then they just get out of there and never come back. Instead, their experience should be positive. If it isn’t, your email strategy, for instance, which you carefully devised and which includes using some of the top-notch customizable options for handling emails – from collecting them to sending them – like VerticalResponse would give no effect. So, customers should easily navigate the site, find the desired product easily, and leave with a positive online shopping experience.
We hope that you, after this blog, will understand that responsive design is not a luxury, but a necessity and that this is why you need someone who will professionally, creatively and expertly design your website.
7 Reasons in Favor of Responsive Web Design
We will list 7 reasons why you should have a responsive website in our opinion:
#1 Mobile Use Is on the Rise
Currently, 68.1 % of Internet users worldwide access sites via mobile devices.
In fact, there are more mobile devices in the world than humans. And every month the use of mobile devices continues to grow, so every month more and more potential customers will watch your website from a mobile device. If their experiences and interactions with your site are poor, they are likely to have a bad opinion of your products and are more likely to visit your competition’s websites.
#2 Online Shopping via Mobile Devices Is Gradually Growing
Shopping online is much easier than driving to the store. It is even easier if you can do it from your favorite armchair while watching TV.
As many as 79 % of consumers regularly use their smartphones for online shopping. If your products and services are not transparent to users who use mobile devices, you miss the opportunity to increase your sales revenue.
#3 Social Networks Are Increasingly Being Accessed From Mobile Phones
Over 55 % of social media sales now happen on mobile devices, so sharing links from social networks such as Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram on your site, as a result, will make your website receive even more traffic and views from mobile devices.
So, if you have a social media marketing strategy and want to take advantage of social content sharing, ’become’ responsive.
#4 Responsive Website Improves SEO Ranking
Responsive web design is Google’s recommended approach to site design. According to Google, responsive websites will rank better in searches because they provide a better user experience than non-mobile sites. In addition, Google likes the site to use the same URLs on all devices, as opposed to different URLs created for different device dimensions. Moreover, mobile phones now have a special algorithm for Google searches.
Just because your site ranks high on desktop search engines doesn’t mean it will still be well-positioned for the same mobile search. This question becomes even more critical when you consider that searches via a mobile phone are numerically larger than searches on desktops. If you think search engine optimization (SEO) is important, then responsive site design is very important.
#5 Responsive Design Is Adapted to Different Device Sizes
Do you want your website to look great, regardless of device size or screen size? Then proper web design is the right solution.
But don’t just think of today when there are smartphones and tablets. Think about tomorrow’s time with smartwatches and other new devices that have already appeared. Responsive web design will work on them as well.
#6 Easier Site Content Management
Currently, there are many organizations that actually have two websites: their main site and another version of their site made just for mobile devices. This was a fairly common practice before responsive web design became the preferred method. That meant duplicate versions of the same website for management and updating – in other words, inefficiency.
With the right design, your site will adapt to each device, providing the right layout and content that best suits the needs of the users. Your business will only have one site to manage, which means you will update your content once, no matter how many different devices are displayed. It also means lower web content management costs.
#7 Responsive Site Gives a Better User Experience
There are numerous business reasons to adopt a responsive website, but they all revolve around offering a better user experience. A responsive website means no more enlarging with fingers and zooming, no more side-scrolling to see an entire page that doesn’t fit the mobile screen.
A better user experience reduces the bounce rate from your site, improves brand perception, and increases website conversions. Therefore – go responsive!
Bizcope offers user-friendly responsive web design and development services with years of experience. We have served web design services to 500+ companies with tons of positive feedback & 90% retention rate. Let us know if we can help you.