How can websites possibly keep up with the millions of screens out there? The answer is through responsive web design or RWD design. Responsive web design ensures that your website (and its pages) can adapt and deliver the best experience to users, whether they’re on a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. For that to happen, your website needs a responsive design.
What is responsive web design, and how does it work?
Keep reading to find out, and see real-life examples of responsive web designs!
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What is a responsive website?
Responsive web design, also called RWD design, describes a modern web design approach that allows websites and pages to render (or display) on all devices and screen sizes by automatically adapting to the screen, whether it’s a desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone, or even a smart TV!
How does responsive web design work?
Responsive web design works through Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), using various settings to serve different style properties depending on the screen size, orientation, resolution, color capability, and other characteristics of the user’s device. A few examples of CSS properties related to responsive web design include the viewport and media queries.
Is my website responsive?
You can quickly see if a website is responsive or not in your web browser. Here's how to check for responsive web design:
- Open Google Chrome.
- Go to your website.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + I to open Chrome DevTools.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + M to toggle the device toolbar.
- View your page from a mobile, tablet, or desktop perspective.
You can also use a free tool like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to see if pages on your website are mobile-friendly. While you can achieve mobile-friendliness with other design approaches, such as adaptive design, responsive web design is the most common because of its advantages.
Why does responsive web design matter to web designers and business owners?
Responsive web design relieves web designers, user interface designers, and web developers from the challenge of creating websites for every single device in existence. It also simplifies the lives of business owners, marketers, and advertisers.
Here are a few benefits:
- One site for every device: Whether viewed on a 27-inch iMac with a wireless connection or from the screen of your Android phone, the website will be configured for the user’s optimal viewing experience.
- Optimal design for the device: With the responsive web design approach, all images, fonts, and other HTML elements will be scaled appropriately, maximizing whatever screen size the user has.
- No need for redirects: Other options for designing for multiple devices require the use of redirects to send the user to the appropriate version of a web page. Without the need for redirects, the user can access the content they want to look at as quickly as possible.
Responsive web design is also cost-effective and easier to manage because it involves one site versus two. You don’t have to make changes twice. Instead, you can work from and update a single website.
Examples of Responsive Web Design
To see how responsive web design works, access the Internet from your smartphone and browse through some sites listed within invisionapp.com — a great article that features responsive web designs.
Now, view the same sites on another Internet-enabled device like your laptop or iPad. You can also use Chrome DevTools. Notice how the pages change their layout to fit the device you're on?
That’s responsive web design in action.
Learn More About Responsive Web Design
Want to learn more about responsive web design? Check out these helpful resources:
- The 3 Elements of Responsive Web Design
- Why Responsive Web Design Is a Must
- 6 Tips for Making Your Website Responsive
- How Much Does Responsive Web Design and Development Cost?
If you’re looking for professional assistance in making your website responsive, Blumoo Creative can help. We offer responsive web design and development services, with over 1,600 sites launched.
