When it comes to a lot of older websites, one size doesn’t always fit all. If your company’s site was built more than a few years ago, it probably looks great on a desktop’s screen. But if someone tried to view your site on the latest smartphone or tablet, they might have to struggle with tiny, unreadable text or a wonky, broken layout.
Web developers tried to solve this problem by building a second, “mini” website that was optimized for phones. These sites were easier to read—but businesses were left with the nuisance of maintaining not one, but two websites.
Luckily, today we have responsive Web design. It’s a technique used by developers to build a single SEO-friendly website that will conform to any device your customer uses, no matter what size the screen is.
“Day by day, the number of devices, platforms and browsers that need to work with your site grows,” said Jeffrey Veen, author of The Art and Science of Web Design. “Responsive Web design represents a fundamental shift in how we’ll build websites for the decade to come.”
How Does Responsive Web Design Work?
Before the website is created, your company—working in partnership with your designer—decides what information is important to show or hide on each page according to what device the viewer is using to browse the Internet.
For instance, your site might have a “Call Now” button that allows a customer to dial your number with a single touch. Responsive design will automatically display the button if a customer is using an iPhone—or hide the button if that person is working from a desktop.
The desktop version of your site might have lots of text, while slightly fewer options and detail appear on a tablet. “Just the facts” would show on a smartphone.
Each element on a website’s page also can be assigned a priority level, which assures designers that the most important information will be the information that is viewed most easily on any size screen.
As an example, check out the website for Heritage Lawns and Irrigation (www.heritagelawnskc.com). If you adjust the size of your browser—minimize the screen and then pull from one corner—you will see that, as the size of the website browser shrinks, the most important website information is automatically pulled to the top. The website will work for everything from a desktop to smartphone.
Responsive is Not a Choice
If your website fails to display content properly, a visitor’s online experience with your brand could be a failure, too. You might never know how many prospects or existing customers give up on your company because they can’t get what they need from your site.
For this reason, it is no longer a matter of whether you need responsive or not—today’s consumers and technology require it for a positive experience.
In most cases, your existing site cannot be converted very easily into responsive design, and it may be cost-prohibitive to update now and design all new. (Through WordPress web development as well as Drupal and Joomla are all popular types of website content management systems that can be built with responsive design.) But, if you are even close to undertaking a website makeover and want a powerful online user experience, insist that your Web developer use responsive Web design.
