Responsive website and RWD – what do these terms mean?
- Jacek Salamandra
- Responsive websites
- 13 June 2019
Responsive web design (short for English – RWD) is a concept that means responsive website. This term defines the creation of websites adapted to mobile devices. In other words, responsive pages are flexible, their layout changes depending on the type of device on which the displayed page is. A properly designed responsive website should display its content adequately to the device. Regardless of whether it will be a smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer. Check if your website is responsive!
Is it worth having a responsive website?
Depending on the website, the traffic generated by users of mobile devices may reach from 20 to 30 percent of visits, so it is not a small number. So let’s think about having a mobile version of your website and do not discourage users (that is, potential customers in the case of a business) to leave the site in the absence of it. In addition, responsive websites improve your position in the search engine and reach higher places on the list, for one simple reason – Google promotes the possession of a mobile version of the website. Another advantage is simply convenience. Easy, accessible and properly scaled content encourage and simplify the use of the website. Otherwise, access to the content is difficult and the user may overlook important information, and hence – do not read them at all. Responsive websites counteract such issues.
Some tips you need to remember when designing responsive websites:
- The user should not zoom in and out of the page view. It should display itself correctly, adjusting its layout accordingly to the screen resolution.
- The visitor should not be able to move the view horizontally, scrolling the page should be done vertically.
- The page menu should be “rolled up” in a single button (eg in the characteristic three horizontal lines, even called by some hamburger), which only after clicking will expand the entire menu.
- Responsive websites, in the mobile version, can not display pop-ups, such as a pop-up newsletter, because of the difficult viewing of content. In addition, this window is often difficult to close, which can annoy visitors.
- Avoid using large ad views that hinder the use of the site. A better application is to prepare an advertisement that can be embedded in the content of the site.
- Fonts (also called fonts by language purists) should be properly scaled depending on the screen resolution.
- It is very important that your website is optimized for the speed of loading content. A long page load irritates the recipient, but also causes a larger data transfer on the mobile device. Nobody seems to want users of his site to waste valuable internet packages for free.
- Due to the fact that mobile browsers usually have problems with reading flash content (animated content), you should avoid using this technology. Anyway, it is simply being replaced by newer solutions.
- It is necessary to ensure proper placement of elements, to be separated from each other, easily “clickable” and without unnecessary additions that impede the use of the site.
Responsive websites and mobility testing
An important factor when creating mobile solutions is testing them. There are quite a few mobile screens available, or actually their resolution. You need to test them as much as possible. For the correct performance of the tests, such features as meticulousness and perceptiveness will be useful. These features make it easier to catch incorrectly displayed elements. Just because everything looks perfect on your tablet does not mean it looks good on your phone. That’s why testing and responsive websites should go together.
It is It’s relatively easy to check if your site is responsive and you can do it yourself. All you have to do is use the tool provided by Google and enter the address of your website there. After performing the analysis you will get a result – positive or negative. If the test result is not enough for you and you want to see how your website presents itself in different resolutions, you do not need to have several phones to browse your site. You can use your own web browser. If you’re using Firefox, the CTRL + SHIFT + M key combination switches the window view to responsive. Using the responsive view is also possible naturally in Google Chrome. Voila!
Responsive websites are currently the standard. Apart from this aspect, we lose quality, discourage audiences and, worst of all, lose our position in Google search (for mobile searches). It’s worth not to ignore this factor when designing a website and use technologies that make your website responsive.As you can see, the application is simple – a responsive page is a must. Do not hesitate to write to us and you will receive an offer to create a professional website.