Each website requires certain added features to ensure success. Websites that sell products may need inventory control features to ensure the availability of listed items. This feature, while critical to this type of website, will be useless for a website that promotes a service. Regardless of the nature of your website, there is one common feature that is essential across the board – responsive design.
(Pixabay / FirmBee)
Also known as a mobile-friendly design, responsive web design means that a website’s layout changes according to the size of the screen that is used to view the site. Here are just a few of the reasons why responsive web design is critical:
- Supports the multi-device user – Websites today are visited by different people usi1ng different devices. It is important, therefore, that websites can be viewed seamlessly across different platforms for a pleasant user experience. A user will be frustrated with your website if they cannot access similar content when using different devices. A responsive design will ensure consistency in information regardless of the kind of device used.
- One site to rule them all – If you have to maintain different sites for different types of devices, it becomes very cumbersome to keep them all updated. Consider the trouble of having a website for desktop display and another for mobile-only display. Any time you make a change, you will have to take the time to update both versions. The solution to this problem is a responsive design that works across all resolutions and platforms.
- Improves search engine rankings – Google has progressed from awarding a “Mobile Friendly” label to sites that use responsive design to now going “mobile first” in it’s search index. This means that Google will now reward responsive designs with enhanced rankings.
- Future scalability – Responsive web design has the potential to support future devices and screen sizes. We do not know what technology will bring a few years from now, but responsive web design has fluid scalability to support a wide array of new advances.
Every website, regardless of the audience it is serving, will greatly benefit from the use of responsive web design.