What is responsive web design?

responsive web designResponsive design

Responsive Web design is an approach whereby a website designer creates a Web page that responds or resizes itself depending on the type of device it is being seen through. That might be a large monitor or laptop or tablet or smartphone, the content adjusts itself to the available screen size. Responsive web designing is known as RWD. In simple “the content is like water” it adjusts in any screen size.

RWD is being in trend for past 3 years, this is due to the growth of smartphones and mobile devices. A large number of different screen sizes have emerged, this demanded to design for all so the RWD came which said design one for all.

 

What Does RWD Look Like?

The purpose of responsive design is to have one site, but with different elements that respond differently when viewed on devices of different sizes.

Let’s take a traditional “fixed” website.  When viewed on a desktop computer, for instance, the website might show  three columns. But when you view that same layout on a smaller tablet, it might force you to scroll horizontally, something users don’t like. Or elements might be hidden from view or look distorted.  The impact is also complicated by the fact that many tablets can be viewed either in portrait orientation, or turned sideways for landscape view.

On a tiny smartphone screen, websites can be even more challenging to see. Large images may “break” the layout. Sites can be slow to load on smartphones if they are graphics heavy.

However, if a site uses responsive design, the tablet version might automatically adjust to display just two columns. That way, the content is readable and easy to navigate. On a smartphone, the content might appear as a single column, perhaps stacked vertically.  Or possibly the  user would have the ability to swipe over to view other columns.  Images will resize instead of distorting the layout or getting cut off.

The point is  with responsive design, the website automatically adjusts based on the device the viewer sees it in.

How Does Rwd Work?

Responsive sites use fluid grids. All page elements are sized by proportion, rather than pixels. So if you have three columns, you wouldn’t say exactly how wide each should be, but rather how wide they should be in relation to the other columns. Column 1 should take up half the page, column 2 should take up 30%, and column 3 should take up 20%, for instance.

Media such as images is also resized relatively. That way an image can stay within its column or relative design element.

Why do Businesses need RWD?

Due to great increase in smartphone users in India over the past four years, it is essential to have a responsive design for your website, because more than 50 percentage of your visitors will be visiting your site with a smartphone so it is very much recommended to have responsive design for your website. Nowadays everyone checks your website before doing busniess with you or to check your services. So its essential to have a website. But having a RWD you can impress your client and improve your conversion rate.

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