Responsive Design, why is it so important?

Using a responsive design you will ensure that your viewers experience your site in the best (and most professional) way even from their smartphone. This is why you should want a mobile-friendly interface

Why your site's design should be responsive?

Responsive design has quickly become a core concept of web graphics. Modern site offer impactful, engaging and fully immersive experiences on mobile devices, as more and more traffic is generated from smartphones and tablets. Your webpages must be accessible and professional from any platform and resolution in order to keep up with today's standards.

However, contents without a captivating graphic and functional layout just aren't going to make an impression on visitors. Responsive design follows some highly specific rules, and in the next paragraphs we'll explore some of its pivotal elements. In general, however, the graphic of a mobile website requires a totally different approach from a layout developed for a computer's screen. Perhaps you have come across the term mobile-first; this approach is often used in most modern web design solutions, where the mobile version is developed first, and only subsequently adapted to larger screens. This is the best way to make sure your website layout is at a time clean, cohesive, and professional.

What are the specifics requirements of a responsive design, though? We'll get to it - but, first, we must understand how mobile Internet first came to be and how it evolved into our hyper-connected present,

The story of responsive design; how Internet became mobile

Since its creation Internet was projected toward a concept of mobility that would forever change the IT world over the span of just a few decades. Contents on the Web were meant to be available for everyone and had to be accessible everywhere, in any part of the world.

Toward the end of the '90s, mobile phones were equipped with WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) technology. Today, these obsolete devices may make us smile, but back in the day it was this kind of innovation that would pave the way for our modern smartphones. WAP displayed the contents of a page or website as simple text, links, and sometimes ASCII images.

WAP technology paved the way for responsive design

However, WAP had its limitations. Webpages coded in HTML (the markup language used to make a content accessible to browsers) could not be interpreted by this protocol, which forced developers to create parallel mirror pages, specifically studied for WAP technology.

But times were quickly changing. Japan was the first to develop a technology where Internet contents could be browsed on mobile phones through "lite" browsers; this way, the HTML pages were displayed directly on-screen.

Handling the wide variety of screen resolutions that cellphones entailed proved to be somewhat tricky, though. Web graphics up to that point had been developed for computer displays - and between the different screen resolutions and browsers specifics, that was already saying something! But now smaller and smaller devices entered the picture, presenting the designers with new challenges. Contents had to be presented in a way that was visually pleasing and effortless; the very concept of design had to be reimagined and revised to encompass this new, growing and ever-shifting audience.

Mobile displays and small resolutions; UX for responsive design

Responsive design owes a greatg deal to the potential and versatility of CSS Stylesheets. With CSS, contents and graphics can be resized and adapted to various screen resolutions, simply by declaring as many media queries as needed. Media queries are graphic variables, estabishing how the various layout elements will be displayed on-screen. For example, images can be set up to appear at 100% width on mobile screens, filling the display entirely - while maintining their normal size and ratio on desktop.

One of the main characteristics of responsive design is just how the user experience (UX) prioritizes images. Their placement and dimensions influence the positioning of content boxes and other graphic elements; the final goal is to make websites intuitive and easy to navigate, while at the same time aesthethically pleasing.

Responsive design must preserve the aesthethics and feels of a site

It goes without saying that a lot of groundwork goes in the design and implementation of mobile layouts. The reasons are practical, as the average mobile users have a noticeably shorter attention span than desktop users, thus the contents must be readily and immediately available. Responsive pages should especially be devoid of any horizontal scrollbars, as the visitor's mind will almost invariably skip over any content that overflows from the device's screen surface. The overall layout guidelines about weight balance also apply to graphic elements and text blocks; a page should never look too clutterd or haphazard.

No less important is the navigation menu which in responsive design is usually a navbar placed on top of the page. On smaller screens, the menu is displayed as a dropdown list of links which can be activated by tapping the three-lines icon (hamburger menu), thus allowing visitors to move easily inbetween pages.

Restyling or new mobile-first site - which should you pick?

As we have seen, responsive design requires a change in mindset when approaching layout; the differences from desktop-based web graphics are stark and should never be overlooked. So your next question may be, can a pre-existing site be restyled and finetuned for mobile browsing, or should you rather get yourelf a brand-new site with mobile-first graphic from the get-go?

While both options are eligible, what you should be asking is which one will actually work best for your site. If the technology is very outdated, for example - as in the case of Flash websites, or sites that relied heavily on tables - a brand-new layout that takes full advantage of CSS potentials and sports a mobile-first interface may be the best call for reaching out to a new, broader audience.

Conversely, a few strategic improvements and retouches may dust off a site that's just a bit bland, bringing it right up into the responsive design era with a snazzy new mobile interface that does not alter the overall "look & feel" of the site as it is.

Cri8ive will help you figure out the best solution for your platform, studying the best strategy to make your brand or your site stnd out and shine. Contact  me through the form on my website or send me a mail; Cri8ive Network may just have what you're looking for in its range of services.