THE 3 BIGGEST RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN BLUNDERS

Responsive Web Design: What it is and Why you need it

Have you ever been on your phone, spiraling down a rabbit hole of websites and get to one that stops you right in your tracks? Is that website clunky, awkward and plain ugly? Chances are you have stumbled upon a website that doesn’t have responsive web design.

Back in 2015, Google began to penalize any website that didn’t have a mobile-friendly view. #Mobilegeddon, as it came to be known in the tech world, forever changed how web design is implemented. The widespread fear of the unknown shook business owners, as Google released an algorithm that gave a leg-up to websites with mobile-friendly design.

What is Responsive Web Design?

Simply, responsive web design is when each screen of a page is optimized for multiple screens on different devices. Think mobile, desktop computers, laptops, TVs, or tablets.

Since 80% of people browsing online are using smartphones, business owners are paying special attention to their website’s mobile design.

Over 60% of companies that used mobile-first approach, saw an increase in sales in 2016.

Responsive web design when used properly can help improve the users overall experience, as well as increasing engagement and conversions.

No matter what device your customer is on, the website’s interface will scale (growing and shrinking) to present the most desirable appearance and functionality. Elements can even be hidden or appear based on the specific device.

Websites must have the following characteristics to make them truly responsive:

• Fluid Layouts
• Responsive Images
• Media Queries

Do I Need a Responsive Website?

The answer is YES. In 2017, more people will be relying on their mobile device to search your business.

First impressions matter, especially in responsive web design. If a customer visits your website, and their immediate reaction is negative, they will bounce from your page instantly. 94 percent of users blamed website design as a reason for leaving a webpage according to a recent study. Focusing on a mobile-first approach will increase the chances of your customer to land on your page and actually stay there. Your Google rank will improve and you win more sales for your business.

How does Responsive Web Design Work?

Creating a responsive website is not easy. Most responsive websites are created using CSS or HTML, so if you just read those acronyms and thought they were the latest slang for LOL or BRB, then we suggest leaving this one to the professionals.

Using the following three things all in harmony will guarantee that your business has a responsive website.

1. Fluid Layouts

A wise man once said, “Go With the Flow,” the same can be said for your website. Fluid Layouts are a departure from inflexible layouts, and allow your website to expand and contract to any given width.

Let’s say your browser window is 1024px wide, if you set the layout to 100%, your image will take up the entire page width.

See an example here that shows what a fluid layout looks like in comparison to fixed width content buckets on a web page.

Fixed:

Fluid:

As you can see, Fixed width Layouts websites use pixel amounts to set the size of the content. Flexible Layouts give content a percentage value, allowing it to be just the right fit.

Flexible images are the second piece to the puzzle. Not only will having flexible images increase your page rank in Google, but it will quicken your site load time. Google will rank your website based on if the page has images, and how long it takes for the website to load.

2. HISRC

Depending on the speed of the internet that your user is connected to, HISRC will load lower resolution images to improve your website load time. Also, it will increase the chances of someone staying on your site, which means more business for you!

3. Media Queries

In short, Media Queries tells your website to hide or show relevant information based on your users device. Let’s say you don’t want to show an image or button on your desktop view. By placing a piece of code in the framework, you can optimize the website appearance on desktop without impacting a customer’s mobile experience.

Steps to Take

Now more than ever having a website with responsive web design is critical. Haneke Design can help you achieve this goal with our trained engineers and years of award winning experience. We have been on the forefront of designing responsive website. Below is a Fox13 featuring our Founder and CEO, Jody Haneke talking about mobile-first design.