Guest editorial by Randall Graham
With the insurgence of more smartphones and tablets in today’s marketplace, there is a new type of web design being introduced called responsive web design. Responsive web design refers to the development of sites in such a way as to alter the site’s layout to be more easily read and navigated across multiple platforms and resolutions with very little resizing, panning, and scrolling necessary. To put it simply, your site will change its design and navigation to fit the screen size of the device being used whether that is a laptop, tablet, or smartphone.
With your website being the face of your business to the online world as well as the hub for which all marketing campaign center around, it’s important to make sure your online image portrays the right message. A responsive website will answer that question for you.
What happens when a responsive web design is viewed on in iPhone or tablet?
- The layout of the site will change based on the screen size (widescreen monitors, iPods, etc.)
- Images will automatically re-size dependent upon the screen size
- Sliding headers will automatically reformat to be easily viewed on the screen
- Buttons will become larger on smaller screens with a responsive web design
- The information which is least important will be moved down the page on smaller screens and more important content will be pulled to the top
The best thing about a responsive website is they tend to be more scalable to future technology. As screen resolutions of desktop and laptops continue to get bigger, and hand held devices continue to get smaller, this type of site design should be able to adapt much better than your current site.
We still receive phone calls from companies wanting a mobile site to complement their existing website. What we suggest is that instead of building 3 sites, one for tablets, one for mobile, and one for desktops/laptops, go with a responsive web design instead. Having a responsive web design will not only save you time in development but also reduce the overall cost significantly.
Randall Graham is co-founder of Qudeso, a North Carolina-based full service marketing firm. For more information call 919-602-0190 or email rgraham@qudeso.com