Responsive design – is it just a buzzword?

First things first. Let’s define Responsive Design.

Responsive design is a web development technique that allows a website to adapt in design and layout to suit the size of the screen being used to view it. In other words, it allows your website to be viewed optimally across a number of devices, including a mobile phone, tablet or desktop computer.

The way it works is by setting the images, content, layout and structure to change at certain breakpoints. At these breakpoints, the layout rearranges to take full advantage of all available screen space.

Now, the benefits of responsive design are obvious. Previously, if you wanted your website to work on a mobile device, you’d have to pay someone to create a mobile version of your site, and then people would access your site via m.yourdomain.com or something pretty similar.

But as mobile and tablet usage went through the roof, new techniques were made available. Responsive design is cheaper than a mobile version, because it uses the same content, and just tweaks the layout. That means there is less extra work to be done, and less of a cost to your business.

But none of that answers the question. Is responsive design just a buzzword?

Short answer. No. Responsive design is the way of the future.

Take, for example, the iPhone 8. Yes, I’m well aware that even Apple probably hasn’t got their ideas for the iPhone 8 together yet, but bear with me. So, let’s say the iPhone 8 is twice the width of the iPhone 4 (2 x 4 = 8, makes sense right?).

Now, because a responsive design adapts to the size of the device, there’s a good chance your site will continue to not only work, but also look great, on an iPhone 8. The layout will simply arrange itself into an optimal position, and you won’t have any problems.

As you can see, responsive web design is future-friendly – images and video will just scale to suit the new device, and the content will be displayed in a nice readable format.

Compare this to a mobile version of a design, or even a desktop version, and you’ve got bigger problems. Firstly, the text size will be unreadable on the new device, and secondly, the mobile style will have no idea about the new device, and will either try to display the desktop version, or a weird stretched version of the mobile version. Neither is the optimal solution.

DelaneyDavidson builds all websites responsively – meaning your website will look great across almost any device, without charging you twice.

We can also rebuild your existing website to take advantage of responsive web design, so get in contact with us if you'd like to know more.