If you ask the average person how they access the internet, you will discover that a growing number of them do so while on the move. Mobile devices such as Smartphones and tablets are now commonly used to go online, which has changed the way people look at website design. It’s no longer acceptable to have a website that looks and operates well on a standard home monitor, as it has to be just as user friendly when viewed on mobile devices, too. This is where responsive website design comes into play.
The Role of Responsive Web Design in Mobile Strategy
Rather than trying to blind you all with the ins and outs of design, it’s best to just describe responsive website design as being the method that designers use to create a site that will look great on any device. The goal of the designer is to insert a piece of code into the website that will instantly recognize the device and screen resolution that the website is being viewed on. All the essential elements of the site remain in place, but become laid out in a way that makes them easy to navigate, even on the smallest of devices.
Expensive But You can Expect Best Results
This type of design is something that is especially beneficial to companies that sell products or deliver vital information online. The problem is that many of these companies hear “responsive website design” and start to believe that they are going to have to shell out a small fortune to put it in place. Yes, it may be a little more expensive that a simple website, but what they have to understand is that if they don’t adopt this design method, they will then need to pay to have several different websites built and maintained, with each site devoted to a specific type of device. Going that route will end up taking a whole lot more money out of their tight budget.
2014 is going to be the Year of Responsive Web Design
When people head online to surf the internet, they want their experience to be as simple and painless as possible. The attention span of the average person is expected to be shorter in 2014, which means they will ditch a site if they can’t find what they want in a couple of mouse clicks. Simply put, they want the same online experience on their Smartphone or tablet that they would get from their laptop or desktop at home. If you do not have a responsive website, conformity is something that they are not going to get, which in turn will lead to them taking their business elsewhere.
All the talk of mobile internet being the wave of the future is now gone, as the numbers suggest that it’s already here and only getting bigger by the minute. There is money to be saved by switching your existing website design to one that embraces the responsive design way of thinking. Not only will you not have to have several different sites built, your maintenance and upkeep also gets reduced as you only have to worry about a single site.
The Author is the Owner of Red Website Design – One of the UK’s leading Cheap Website Design companies.