It seems nowadays the latest craze on the web is responsive web design. But do we really know why that is? Well if your curious, like myself, you’ve asked this question; and today we will dive in to it and discover why that may be.
To begin lets start off with the question, what is responsive web design?
Responsive Web Design can be defined as a web page that has been optimized with a fluid and flexible layout for different devices and screen sizes. Most importantly, it’s all consolidated into one source code.
This now changes how websites have been designed. When mobile was first introduced developers would create two separate files– one for desktop and one for mobile.
So what does this mean for businesses and your personal site. Let’s look into this further. In my discovery of the importance of responsive web design about 4 key factors play a role. Similar to the 5 components of good web design, which you can read here. Let’s peek into some of the code that make up this new feature.
So what are the 4 key factors? Well let’s see…
1. Google Ranking/SEO
The question you should ask yourself is not why is responsive web design important but why is your site not responsive already? In 2015 google launched a new algorithm, which you can find about here, that crawls through your site and detects if your site is optimized for mobile use. If not, your site then becomes penalized and loses its ranking among google’s search engine.
It seems google likes sites that have a single url rather then two separate urls for desktop and then mobile devices. Which leads me to the next factor.
2. One Site For All Devices.
Did you know that 53% of American adults access the web through a mobile device. 60% of searches happen on mobile devices and it was reported that over 2 billion users will access the web through a mobile device, find out here. With all these sites being accessed by a mobile device it’s imperative that your site is mobile friendly– let alone responsive.
Surprisingly 44% of Fortune 500 companies are not. Only you can prevent forest fires lol. Seriously though. Lets think about that. 44% of Fortune 500 companies are not mobile responsive. How does that affect their business. Sure they may be doing well but how many visitors are they losing once they discover its difficult to navigate through the website.
I think this also says there are plenty of opportunities for developers to add value to a business. I know I will look into this phenomenon and try to create value not only for myself, but the company as well.
Some of the benefits of creating one site that is responsive, developers will be happy with this, is that it makes maintenance and management much simpler. Mobile-only sites, a system before responsive web design that detected a site is being accessed by a mobile device, made it hard for content to be consistent on both platforms. Thus responsive layouts reduce this problem.
Next the third important factor would be…
3. Multiple Device Access
When it comes to brand perception you should not give your customer or audience any reason to leave your site. And your web page not being optimized for responsive screen sizes can say a lot about your brand story. With the number of people accessing the web from a mobile device should persuade you to look into optimizing your site. Let’s think about this, customers return to a site from multiple devices.
Let’s say you you were out on the road and saw something you liked, you then decided to purchase that item online. However, something came up so you saved it for a later time when you reached home. You then get home grab your iPad and remember that you wanted to buy this particular item. Lo and behold if the site is responsive there would be no trouble in purchasing the item.
That is why it is important to keep all content up to date and consistent on all platforms, or for businesses, your losing a potential customer.
and last but not least
4. Scalability
This really speaks to the benefits of choosing to create your site with a responsive layout. This says that your thinking about the future of your business. Why, you may ask. Again, lets think about the way tech is being created and how we access the internet in our modern day.
New devices are being created every few months and in order for you and your business to stay relevant and current you at least need your site to perform at the most optimized level. This will allow consumers to reach you without the skip of a beat. However, if you needed to make any changes, going back to point number 2, a developer wouldn’t have to waste time changing two sites but one source code.
Low maintenance on content management costs means higher returns on your ROI.
So in conclusion,
A responsive web design reformats your web page to give users a better experience. Fun fact 75% of americans bring the phones with them to the bathroom, I know I have, what can I say I like to listen to music when I shower, but with such a high percentage wouldn’t you want to give your users a better experience even in the bathroom lol?
Responsive web design is becoming an industry standard and I think it’s a given that you want to stay ahead of the times with your business when 7 out of 10 adults use a smartphone. So with the benefits of optimal experience, quicker and less expensive site maintenance, and creating a positive perception of your brand; why wouldn’t you want to transition your site and make it mobile friendly with responsive web design?