Smartphones and tablets have changed the approach toward design and user experience. Almost every client these days wants a mobile version of their website. After all it’s practically essential. One design for the BlackBerry, another for the iPhone, the iPad, netbook, and all screen resolutions must be compatible, too.
What is Responsive Web Design?
Responsive Web Design (RWD) is an approach of laying-out and coding a website such that the website provides an optimal viewing experience ease of reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling across a wide range of devices (from desktop computer monitors to mobile phones).
What are the benefits of responsive web design?
1.Excellent User Experience
While, content is king and discover ability of content are foremost success metrics, it is the user experience that enables visitors to consume content on any website through the device of their choice and preference, anytime. Thus, responsive web design is about providing the optimal user experience irrespective of whether they use a desktop computer, a smartphone, a tablet or a smart-TV. No scrolling or resizing is needed for any visitor to access your website from their favorite device.
2.Cost Effective
Having a website that is responsive in design means one site for all devices. No need for a separate mobile website build saving you money. Time is another important factor here, one website to update, host, market and maintain. Saving time equals saving money.
3. It is recommended by Google
Google has said it “highly recommends using responsive design” and suggest this will become an important part of its search engine algorithm in 2014.
This is because responsive design sites have one URL and the same HTML, regardless of device, which makes it easier and more efficient for Google to crawl, index, and organize content. Contrast this with a separate mobile site which has a different URL and different HTML than its desktop counterpart, requiring Google to crawl and index multiple versions of the same site.
