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Responsive Web Design: What Is It and Why Is It Important

Posted May 15, 2013  |  By Kenneth King, Creative Director  |  Filed under: Tips & Tricks, Web Programming

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“The control which designers know in the print medium, and often desire in the web medium, is simply a function of the limitation of the printed page. We should embrace the fact that the web doesn’t have the same constraints, and design for this flexibility. But first, we must accept the ebb and flow of things.”

What is responsive web design?

Responsive web design is an approach that suggests that design and development should respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on screen size, platform, and orientation. Therefore, if the user switches from desktop to handheld device, the web site should automatically respond to accommodate for resolution, image size and scripting abilities.

Why Is It Important?

Day by day, the number of devices, platforms, and browsers that need to work with your site grows. Responsive web design represents a fundamental shift in how we’ll build websites for the decade to come.

Small/Medium/Large - One site to rule them all.

Sure, we could continue building sites the old-fashioned way and ignore the smartphone and tablet revolution. From a business standpoint we’re happy to build different variations of the same website over and over again. Duplication also increases the potential for errors on your site. Therefore, you’ll need to consider additional resources to ensure content accuracy.

When building a responsive site, the expenses to duplicate and maintain a website for mobile and other devices get completely eliminated, resulting in a better product for you and your customer. In the long term, investing in a responsive website design is a good business decision.

Additional Benefits:

• Increase customer reach
• Increase visibility in search engines
• Increase sales and conversion rates
• Save time and money on mobile development and site management
• Consolidate your analytics and reporting

Conclusion

The beauty of the Web is that it is always evolving and there are many options available to implement any type of web technology. Here at Jub Jub, we pride ourselves on understanding our customer needs first. Understanding your needs is the key needed to provide web solutions that will last.

Contact us if you'd like to learn more about what a responsive site could do for you.