Why is Responsive Website Design Still Relevant in 2022?
About two billion people browse the web using their smartphones. That’s more than half of the world’s Internet users. This is why a mobile-friendly website is necessary. If that’s not enough to convince you, how about the fact that 58% of purchases take place on mobile devices? The web has indeed evolved as it is now mainly geared towards the mobile marketing era.
If you own a business, statistics tell you to design a mobile-friendly site. But it does not mean you have to forget about your audience that primarily uses desktops or laptops. This is why a responsive design is not yet passé in 2022 and will remain relevant in the years to come.
What is a Responsive Web Design (RWD)?
Simply put, a responsive design denotes that a website prioritises desktop users. It will then be adjusted to a smaller screen to accommodate mobile or tablet devices. This web design technique was all the rage back in 2015 when most of the world used desktops over smartphones.
Businesses in the B2B space mostly benefit from a responsive website over a mobile-friendly and mobile-first site. That’s because these organisations maintain their visitor count or traffic by following responsive design principles. One unique method here is the “fluid grid,” which reduces font sizes whilst moving certain elements into one column. Therefore, anyone viewing the site using a mobile phone where the screen size is relatively smaller than a laptop’s will have no issues.
Why Do You Need Responsive Web Design in 2022?
Even if you do not run a B2B business, you will still benefit from a responsive web design. While many opt for a mobile-first strategy, you should not jump the bandwagon right away. If your website data shows that most of your visitors use a bigger screen, there’s no reason for you to create a mobile-first website.
An incredible site means that it responds effortlessly to all screen sizes. With users spending more than four hours per day on their smartphones, optimising for mobile is a valid commercial argument. However, there’s a problem with a mobile-first design. Today, mobile versions of many websites do not fit many screen resolutions and sizes. This is why a responsive web design is significant.
RWD is a client-side design that supports various layouts present in one site. To simplify, this web design technique ensures that the website looks and works efficiently. It does so no matter the app screen size and device being used. That’s because RWD works with a graphic user interface (GUI).
What RWD does is that it automatically scales content and elements to make sure users can navigate the pages. It allows them to see what they want to see on the site. That means you avoid cropping images or missing some texts onscreen.
A responsive web design exists for the end-user. You surely want to offer a good user experience with your site by providing relevant content and excellent products or services. Your goal in having a website is to build an audience, gain more customers, and eventually create a community with like-minded individuals.
The Battle Between Adaptive and Responsive Design
Two approaches are currently contending when it comes to the development of mobile websites. Let’s tackle the first one, which is the adaptive approach. This framework targets a particular class of devices. It is the server’s choice to determine the type of version the website will appear on a specific device type. Although it is a great technique, you can immediately tell that it is quite expensive to execute. It also takes a lot of work to optimise the user experience on some devices.
The other method is, of course, responsive web design. This approach has design elements created to scale or respond to any size of the device. It means that the version of the website will change automatically based on the size and screen resolution of the smartphone or tablet.
Both of these options are fantastic as they offer optimised website results for mobile gadgets. However, RWD is cheaper and faster to execute as it renders a single-page version of a site. If you still do not use a responsive design for your site in 2022, it’s time to do it.
More Benefits of Responsive Web Design for Your Business
Does your website contain phrases like, “To view comments, please visit the full site”? How about “Please use your desktop to make a payment”? Although they inform the users what to do, they are no longer appealing.
It’s 2022, and everything should work on all devices. For instance, your content may be arranged into columns because of the width of desktop screens. Using multiple content columns will make it difficult for mobile users to read and engage with this layout. That’s why RWD is excellent. You can deliver many different content layouts with a responsive design.
If you’re still unconvinced, here are more reasons why you need a responsive web design:
- It’s cost-effective. You can always design layouts for various screen sizes, but that’s time-consuming and expensive. Why would you choose that path when you can adjust once? It’s cheaper upfront and for the long-term, especially when an update or different screen size is available.
- It improves the user experience. Users today require a consistent and fluid experience when visiting your website across various channels. For example, a buyer may visit your website first on their mobile device whilst visiting your store. When they get home, they switch to their laptop to view the products you offer. With RWD, you can provide a consistent experience at all touchpoints. Plus, this design approach ensures that both mobile and desktop designs look nice without unnecessary scrolling and pinching to navigate with ease. In conjunction with quality web hosting that boosts a website’s performance, responsive design can boost mobile web performance where many may struggle due to mobile’s inherent challenges.
- It strengthens your SEO efforts. A responsive website improves your SEO whilst reducing SEO risks that may crop up on different mobile devices. For instance, RWD helps you avoid the dangers of identical content penalties. That’s because you have a single version of your site, which automatically lowers duplicate content. It’s also helpful to the whole web team because members can focus SEO work on one website.
- You can reach both desktop and mobile users. While the trend is to go mobile-first, why not target both mobile and desktop users simultaneously? RWD lets you kill two birds with one stone, not just those on mobile. Your visitors can switch from a large screen to a smaller one, but RWD will take care of how your site looks. Websites that respond well create a sticky client experience. If they like their visit to your site, they will likely return, and a good portion of them will come back to buy.
That’s not all. Responsive web design is easy to develop and maintain. You only have to build one version of your site. The aim is to ensure the site looks good and works efficiently. It should have the latest content and updates, which you can quickly achieve with a responsive website.
Tips for Building a Responsive Site
Ensuring the design responds appropriately based on the device used means that the following three components should be highlighted:
- Media Queries are filters applied to CSS that respond to device type, orientation, and screen type. They allow various layouts with the same content blocks, but each one is optimised before display based on the device size or features. In media query, the design relies heavily on width parameters, as well as other factors like resolution and browser.
- Fluid Grids are a process that RWD uses by normalising UI elements first. Screen size and pixels go through a liquid layout procedure, which then considers all aspects by width percentage. Finally, it brings everything together, including padding around content blocks, to build a whole width of 100%.
- Flexible Visuals are used to create images to the spacing called effective pixels (epx). Later, layout dimensions are expressed, with each element having a design base of about four epx to ensure the design will scale to a whole number during the fluid grid process.
A responsive design means that you can scale up and create layouts for various devices to generate the best results. It requires using images and a fluid grid. At the same time, you have to include a design for touchscreens, not just a mouse and keyboard. The accessible website format should be operable, understandable, robust, and perceivable with enough contrast and active elements.
It’s not difficult to have a responsive website this 2022. A team of experts will help build a website that’s suitable for your business, whether it has a responsive or adaptive design. In need of assistance? Talk to us today!
