What is Responsive Web Design?

Anyone in business that is taking advantage of the online market has realized the essential need of a responsive web design. In the modern world there are different ways in which people access the internet ranging from desktop computers, tablets to small accessories like smartphones. As a business individual your website should be compatible with different kinds of screen resolution. This brings us to the question, what is responsive web design?

Responsive web design

A responsive web design is an approach whereby an individual creates a web page that is able to respond or resize itself depending on the type of design and approach that is being used. It could be an oversized desktop computer, monitor, laptop device or a small screen such as tablet or smartphone. For any individual with a digital smartphone it has become very essential in case you want an effective digital presence. There is an overwhelming growth of smartphones, tablets as well as mobile computing devices as the number of people using smaller screens for viewing web pages continue to increase rapidly.

Most of the websites that are being developed in the present have to consider mobile-first index. Many businesses are increasing their mobile presence and this implies that their websites, eCommerce, Google Business page and social media pages need to be accessible through different devices. One look at any of the best dating sites or the best hookup apps will reveal a strong emphasis on responsive web design as the vast majority of their users are accessing via mobile devices.

How to make a responsive website

The practice of making a responsive website entails a mix of flexible grids as well as layouts and images for the intelligent use of CSS media queries. Once the use switches from using their laptop to iPad then the website should be able to switch automatically in order to accommodate resolution, image size and scripting abilities. The website should be able to automatically respond to the user’s preference. For instance, the website should be able to respond accordingly in case of VPN for iOS.

How it works

A typical website comprises of a set of files that is a web page, home page and about page is an individual file on its own. The files contain html codes as well as text and images. The web pages are styled with files called CSS or rather Cascading Style Sheets. For example, a standard website that is non responsive contains a set of files and a couple of CSS files that govern its look. A responsive website will apply the same CSS files depending on the device being used to access the site. This will make it look and respond differently based on the device.

Why is it important?

There was a time when the only way people could access the website was through a desktop computer. Most people had almost the same size of monitors hence most of the websites were designed for average visitors. Today, most people access websites through a variety of devices ranging from screens of up to 27” and more to very small devices. The consumers expect that the websites they are visiting conform to the needs of the devices they are using and not the other way around.