What is responsive web design?

What is responsive web design?
August 04, 2021

It is very much impossible for a business to operate without an online presence.

If a business wants to enter into the competitive market, then they should have a website that will display their company information and reveals the products in which they are dealing.

Here we will discuss what is Responsive Web Design and what are tips we should include for responsive web design?

Responsive web design may be defined as an approach where the web page of your website resizes itself depending on the type of device you are using, whether it’s a tablet, desktop, mobile, or laptop.

What is the logic of using responsive web design?

Basically, the logic of using responsive web design is to have one site but people can access your website when viewed on different devices.

Let’s explain this more

Suppose you have a traditional website. And when a website when viewing on a computer, it shows four columns but when the same website viewing on a mobile phone, you have to scroll horizontally to see those four columns on your website.

Even you know that smartphone screens are very small and it is very hard to see that full website on that small screen. But if you are using a responsive web design, then your website will automatically adjust to the size of the device in which you are viewing your website. So, there will be no distortion of the layout by using responsive web design.

How does responsive web design in your website work?

In this article, we will give you a brief summary of how responsive web design works. Media queries play a major role in responsive web design.

They are basically the filters used in CSS coding that allow the web page to be adapted to the type of media the page is rendered in.

CSS code for media query is like:

@media (max-width: 480px)
{
 /* CSS styles rules here*/
}

According to this coding, the CSS rules have only an effect on devices whose width is 480 px or less and they will not affect devices whose width is 480px wide.

Most of the mobile devices have a portrait width less than 480px that's why we are taken 480px as a breakpoint to target mobile phones.

How to check whether your website is responsive or not?

There are certain steps you have to follow to check whether your website is responsive or not

-    Open Google Chrome on your device

-    Type your website name

-    Go to your website

-    To open Chrome DevTools, press Ctrl+Shift+I

-    To toggle the device toolbar, press Ctrl+Shift+M

-    Now you can view your page from a mobile, tablet, or a laptop

There are also various tools available from which you can check your website is mobile-friendly or not.

-    Responsive web design checker (https://responsivedesignchecker.com)

-    Design modo (https://designmodo.com/responsive-test/)

-    isResponsive (http://www.isresponsive.com)

-    Mobile friendly Test by Google (https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly)

Tips for responsive web design

In today’s era, responsive web design is a must for a business. Nowadays people search for most things through mobile devices rather than using a laptop, that's it becomes a necessity that your website is responsive.

Here we will share some tips with you that will help you to make your website become both responsive and mobile-friendly.

1. Image Optimization:

This process is very much necessary for a website to be responsive. Image optimization is the process of reducing the file size of an image as much as possible without sacrificing the quality.

2. Typography optimization:

It is a technique to write the language in a legible and readable manner when displayed.

We have to keep certain things in mind while doing optimization of typography such as font selection, size, tracking and kerning, hierarchy and scale.

3. Navigation:

For a good user experience, navigation is very much essential in a website. Every user wants to navigate a website with ease but unfortunately not every site is designed in this way.

Try to be the navigation more descriptive, with no dropdown menus, and try to limit the number of menu items to seven.

4. Gestures:

It means how elements on your website look and behave when gestures are performed on them. It may include a swipe, tap, double-tap, drag, or pinch to an app.

Gestures are used to create a more natural experience for the user which in turn makes it more inviting to engage with your website longer.

5. Minimalist design:

It is defined as the design which is the most basic, simple, characterized by austerity and light-filled spaces.

It is used to eliminate all the clutter from your website makes it easier for a user to have a greater focus on your content.

6. Micro Interactions:

You can also use micro-interactions on your website to be responsive. We as humans appreciate small things in our life and when it comes to web development, cute animations and micro-interactions play a major role.

They play a major role in our digital lives and in a user's understanding of computer systems.

7. Framework:

No doubt, by choosing a responsive framework, you can save a lot of time. If you want to design a simple and static website, the Bootstrap framework is a nice starting point.

It is a free and open-source CSS framework used to develop responsive mobile-first projects on the web.

It contains so many templates for forms, buttons, typography, and other elements. Hence it’s a great choice if you are a beginner in coding but want to do everything yourself.

8. Design planning:

Before launching your website, you have to first decide how your website looks.

For that, you have to create a wireframe to design the layout of your website.

Even though there are several tools available in the market to create responsive prototypes:

a) Gridset: This tool is used by over 40 million developers to construct responsive grids.

b) Invision: It is a prototyping tool from which you can easily create interactive mockups for your website.

c)  Wirefy: This tool is used to build intuitive and powerful wireframes for web development and also speed up the journey for website developers.


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