What Is a Responsive Web Design (RWD) and Why Is It a Must?

First things first, what is a responsive website?

It’s quite simple, a website which displays correctly on all devices, irrelevant of the screen size, without the need to zoom in/out, additionally, you should be able to navigate easily throughout the website. Therefore, displaying and navigating correctly on smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktop and TVs.

How can you know if your website is mobile-friendly?

You can check from a mobile device and check how it looks and view how the content (text, font sizes, images, menu navigation etc.…) is displayed, or simply check this amazing tool by Google which makes all the checks for you

What makes a good responsive website?

1. 1. Well-structured content.
2. 2. Content is clearly readable and well-spaced, irrelevant of device it is accessed from.
3. 3. It is a speedy responsive website, hence, performance is key.
4. 4. Images downloaded from the server are optimised for each screen sizes.
5. 5. Font sizes, image sizes and text adjust according to the screen size.

Why responsive design a MUST?

1. 1. Mobile usage is exploding
   The number of smartphone devices has increased drastically and so have the mobile searches on search engines. Needless to say, websites should be designed for mobiles too.
2. 2. Recommended by Google
   When listing a website on Google, a website is scanned both for desktop view and a mobile view, therefore, if your website is not mobile ready, it may not even show up on searches from mobile devices!
3. 3. Better and positive user experience while browsing the website
   According to Google Think, up to 67% smartphone users will switch to another website if it takes too many steps to get the desired information. Therefore, it is a must to have a well-designed mobile-friendly website which is easy to navigate through.
4. 4. Multi-device adaption
   A RWD website adapt automatically to any device it is accessed from irrelevant of the screen size, therefore the content is structured automatically for any device!
5. 5. Improves search engine optimisation
   Websites which are responsive have a higher chance of ranking better on search engines, as mentioned in an earlier point, websites may not even get listed when searched from mobile devices if not properly optimised. Furthermore, since it is the same website as the desktop, an so it would already be search engine optimised resulting in benefits without requiring any additional changes.
6. 6. Increase engagement & staying ahead of your competition
   Users are more engaged to a website when browsing through a desktop, but needless to say, a website should be well-presented and structured properly irrelevant from which device it is accessed by doing so, you are always increasing your chances engaging your clients, ranking better and beating your competition.
7. 7. Reducing the on bounce rate
   Even if your website is well-designed but the content is unreadable due to not being mobile ready, it will result in users leaving your website straight after visiting the first page, and thus, resulting in a high bounce rate. This will reflect badly on the SEO and will decrease your chances on ranking better on search engines done through both mobile and desktop searches.
8. 8. Responsive web design adapts to future devices
   Since responsive web design is thatit automatically adjusts to different screen sizes, it will adapt also to future devices, hence, your website will be less-prone to requiring design maintenance. You should always be ready for what the future may bring!

Can any website be responsive?

Typically yes, if your website has been developed in the recent years with the latest web standards, it can be converted. However the amount of work needed varies from site to site and depending on the technologies used and coding structure used by the web developer.

If you are interested in doing some further research, you can look up the following:

• Viewport meta tag
• HTML5
• CSS3 Media queries or Frameworks which make use of media queries, such as Bootstrap or Material UI
• Wrapping the content in Grid or Flex Containers

What can I do if your website is not mobile-friendly?

If you already have a website up to date and only requires to have a mobile-friendly, contact your web designer and if he’s up to date with today’s technologies, he should be able to convert your website quite easily and you should have a responsive website in no time!

If you don't have a website yet, check out why you need a website a new website or looking to re-design your website we would be more than happy to assist, simply reach out by filling the quotation form and let us know how we can help.