Creating a responsive web design involves much more than simply stretching and squeezing. It involves making sure the site gets delivered in many different ways, based on the width of the user’s screen. Today we are going to discuss some of the best practices to make a responsive website.
How do you determine what to prioritize, what to remove, and what to incorporate? What kind of implications will it have on your search rankings? How to achieve all this using a single code base?
All these are questions that make you believe that it requires a true expert for one to create a website having a responsive code. Below is a look at what it takes to become one and how to make a responsive website.
1. Plan Small And Big For The Responsive Design
Knowing which web design mistakes to avoid, and the ability to come up with great experiences for mobile device users are among the leading causes of success for this type of design.
Even though it’s not possible to overstate the kind of benefits that responsive design offers, common mistake designers make is to view it as an issue only affecting smaller screens.
Understanding that responsive design isn’t just a solution for mobile users and other small screens allows you to reap all its benefits. Approach it as a solution that can benefit all kinds of monitors, even the extra-large TV displays.
2. Look At The Context
In many cases, responsive design ends-up becoming much more than trying to fit an eCommerce website onto different kinds of screens.
During the design process, one column may layout multiple scales that allows it to cover numerous columns as the user’s screen continues to become larger. Ultimately, that single column will end at the location where the widest or largest supported screen will be.
Although most designers tend to favor the “fit-to-size process,” the process, later on, poses problems as it’s only approached from a layout scalability standpoint. It, thus, completely overlooks the content that the owners would like to present in this layout. Context is also not considered in the finished product.
3. Employ Thoughtful Reduction
The thoughtful reduction process is not just about thinking of the cloud server service provider to use. It calls for the designer to get rid of anything or any code that causes them to have lingering doubts. On the other hand, the designer ought to employ some caution by carefully considering what they want to remove.
While this may likely sound aggressive, it assists the designer to only place their focus on the features or context that matters most to the users. It’s something that works best when using the “Mobile First” approach.
The approach will ensure that the designer does away with everything that appears extraneous. Having used this for the mobile website, you can then carry it over to the larger screen layouts. Here, you get to accept that the items removed from the mobile site aren’t necessary for use in the upcoming instances.
4. Utilize Icons When It’s Appropriate
When used correctly, icons help to enhance responsive web design in varied ways. Appropriate and well-designed icons help to eliminate the need to use large blocks of text. It’s particularly essential when dealing with small screens where space is an issue, and at a premium.
Apart from learning the importance of cloud computing, you also need to note that:
- The designer can deliver the icons they need to the site using the Scalable Vector Graphics format.
- You can use CSS to animate the SVG files, thereby making it possible to incorporate exciting effects.
Summary
All the four points described above are mandatory in 2020, more so if you are keen on developing a well-optimized site. There’s a high possibility that most of the traffic on your site is mobile-based. As such, if you are providing your users with a sub-par mobile phone experience, it will only work to alienate them.
About the Guest Post Author:
Patrick Watt is a content writer, writing in several areas, primarily in business growth, value creation, M&A, and finance. His interests also include content marketing and self-development. Say hi to Patrick on Twitter @patrickwattpat.
