Websites have come a long way in their relatively short history. Since the early 90s, websites have gone from extremely simple information sheets to dynamic, vibrant works of art full of graphics and videos while providing plenty of information.
It’s not just websites that have changed. The way we access websites have changed drastically. People have gone from using one fixed unit, to several devices from phones that fit in our pockets to PCs that can fill half a desk. This led to a new challenge for website designers and developers, making websites responsive to devices.
So, what is a responsive website?
In essence, a responsive website works to fit within the size of any given device. This means that a website automatically recognises what kind of device is being used to access it, and will resize its pages, text, and images to fit that device. What this allows for is a website to look professional and work properly no matter how people chose to access them.
Why do I need to have a responsive website?
The way your website looks can mean the difference between you making a sale/gaining a client and losing them to a competitor. Your website may look perfect on your desktop, but once you open it on a phone, it could be massively distorted if it hasn’t been made responsive. With 92% of internet users using phones to access the internet, accounting for 60% of world website traffic this is a massive market to miss out on! Making sure your website is responsive is allowing you to maintain a consistent image throughout each device.
How do I make sure my website is responsive?
- Responsive Breakpoints: A breakpoint allows for content to adapt and adjust to fit the right screen resolution
- Fluid Grids: Using a fluid grid instead of a pixel measurement places different elements such as a menu proportionally to the screen size rather than a fixed amount of pixels
- Touchscreens: All mobile devices and some laptops use touchscreens. Responsive websites automatically calibrate to consider touchscreens for a website’s functionality such as dropdown menus or a call-to-action.
- Fonts: Font sizes should be defined by each screen resolution e.g. a screen with a minimum width of 640px should have a font size of 16px.
- Themes and Layouts: Using a theme or a layout that is pre-designed theme from open-source systems such as WordPress. This is extremely useful when a project is short on time as it already has responsiveness built into the design.
- Test: One of the most important parts of any project is the quality check. This is no different with responsive designs, test the final website on multiple devices to ensure that your design is responsive.
Conclusion
Websites need to be responsive in the modern world. This allows for consistency in a company’s branding that is all but essential. Especially when considering that 57% of people who use the internet said that they would not recommend a website if it does not look professional or is badly designed. With this in mind, making sure that your website is responsive could make or break your image in today’s online market.
At Gwe Cambrian Web we ensure that all of our websites are responsive and work on all screen sizes. This means that when you come to us for a website, you know that your website will be consistent on all devices, with no extra charge.
