What is a responsive website design service?

The desire to have fluid and responsive websites has been around since the beginning of the web because non-standard view port size variation has always been a consideration when building a website. Responsive Web design is the technique used to make a website display correctly on all screen sizes. A responsive website design service firm like Evans Design can either take your existing site and convert the design or build one from scratch.

Responsive websites are built using a fluid grid system like Bootstrap (www.getbootstrap.com) or Skeleton (www.getskeleton.com). These fluid grid systems use media queries, floating elements, and pre-defined breaking points to effectively fill a space whose size and position are determined based on the device’s viewport size. This means phone users get an experience planned for them and not for desktop users.

Because of the expense of maintaining multiple websites or databases, spending the time to first plan from a responsive perspective before designing the website can greatly impact your bottom line. Small businesses need to be nimble and this allows them to continue to be where consumers are while not letting experience or delivery suffer. The days of redesigning every time a new device hits the market are hopefully over.

The introduction of HTML5 & CSS3, amazing javascript libraries like JQuery, let designers create more dynamic websites. Anticipating a user’s situation based on the device used means delivering more relevant content. For example, a car insurance company can safely assume that a smart phone user will need to access information like agent contact information and towing information more quickly than rate comparisons or company history. With simple CSS you can determine what content shows at which device size and create a better user experience (UX).

Should responsive website design impact the way businesses approach their website redesign project?

BoxUK’s Tom Houdmont has written The ultimate website launch checklist. The excerpt below clearly shows the importance of having a responsive layout.

Ensure that your design promotes and enhances the content of your site. It should be mobile-friendly, and respond to the capabilities of the device it’s viewed on.

Here are some simple things to keep in mind when launching the new design:

1. Layouts respond to changes in screen size
2. The design adapts to the features and capabilities of devices (e.g. touch support)
3. The Favicon is present
4. Touch icons for mobile devices are present
5. Line length is appropriate for reading
6. Typography choices complement each other
7. The design degrades gracefully on older browsers
8. The site looks appropriate when printed
9. There are appropriate designs in place for handling errors, such as the 404 page

Finally, to develop any website correctly UX Design should be a top consideration. Priority #1 should be considering how your website is viewed on all devices. With a little up front planning your site can deliver the same user experience level on all devices.