The Internet and the information it carries is everywhere, and our desire to be able to access it instantly from anywhere is the driver for web sites to be ‘responsive’.
So what does this actually mean? Well, it is surprisingly straightforward. In the ‘old’ days, everyone accessed the Internet on either a desktop computer or a laptop, which had fairly limited ranges in terms of their display size and shape. You could build a website to be ‘one size fits all’ and be pretty confident that most people would see your website as you expected.
In recent years that landscape has changed beyond all recognition; websites are still being viewed on desktops & laptops, but increasingly they are also being viewed on tablets and smartphones, while the user is out and about, using 3G, 4G or WiFi Hotspots. Clearly these devices are very different in terms of screen size to a desktop PC, so displaying a website designed for a standard PC monitor on a small smartphone screen will normally look a little odd at best, and at worst it will be completely unusable.
This is where ‘responsive’ design comes in; essentially it means that the web designer builds in the ability to change how the site looks according to the screen size of the device it is displayed on. So you can have your website laid out one way for on desktop, and in a completely different way on a smartphone.
Responsive design does come at a cost – it increases the amount of time and effort required to design, build and test the website, but as mobile devices increasingly become the preferred tool for work and communication, optimizing your website for the device it is being accessed from becomes increasingly important in maximising the number of people who actively engage with your website, and the price of ‘Responsive Web Design’ is worth paying.
Kehorne have invested a lot of time and effort in learning all the most up to date techniques to ensure our clients get the most technologically advanced web sites possible, so that we make the sites as future proof as its possible.
If you are concerned about your current site and you want to know if its “responsive” why not give us a call or send an email to us.
