The trend of internet browsing is geared towards the mobile devices. The emergence of smartphones, android tablets, and mobile devices where most people do their daily searches and queries, have prompted web designers to be more innovative and flexible in their design platforms. No longer do they concentrate and focus on regular website design for desktop or laptop browsing; they have allowed for their web designs to incorporate some design elements which can adapt to a new environment, say of a smaller-screen mobile phone.
Any website design company will tell you that more website owners are requiring their websites to be adaptable to mobile phone browsing and display. A new design trend called responsive web design has surfaced to cater to this demand. Web developers are able to create designs that not only fit one target screen size, but cater to at least three screen sizes – a small mobile screen, a tablet-sized screen and a large desktop monitor.
Responsive web design caters to changes in the size of a browser window by seamlessly adjusting the width to fit the space available. This is best illustrated by dragging the side of a browser to make it larger or smaller, the design change happens in real time. Responsive design changes include adjusting the size and positioning of elements to suitably fit the available space.
Responsive design elements include:
- Fluid Grids. This is the first key idea behind responsive design. A liquid layout that adjusts with the page has not been quite as popular as creating fixed width layouts. A fluid grid will allow resizing of widths in relation to other elements when a layout is squeezed into a small mobile screen.
- Flexible images. Responsive web design tools allow web designers to have adjustable images that fit different screen sizes and devices.
- Media Queries. Media queries have become a significant element of responsive web design since the evolution of CSS3, allowing web designers to create multiple layouts for the same content.
Mobile web designs, on the other hand are dedicated designs for mobile users and mobile devices. The website design constructed for desktop browsers is not compatible with that of mobile devices. It must follow accessibility guidelines set by the W3C. Mobile phones’ download time is crucial to the mobile website design. Large amounts of data will restrict loading time.
Mobile web design principles include:
- CSS layout must be used to ensure maximum compatibility. Tables are avoided.
- XML or XHTML coding is used with character encoding set at UTF-8.
- Fluid layout is used to allow for different screen sizes layout adjustment.
- Top page should contain all the important information to be user friendly.
- Design for touch screen. Click targets should be minimum size (30-40px) with whitespace in between elements to ease clickability.
- Keep download time to a minimum. Background images to be avoided.
- Don’t use plugins or extensions as most browsers don’t support them.
- Avoid using unnecessary graphics.
These days, having a website is a requirement for every business to accommodate the information hungry customers. Since everything is at the palm of one’s hands, websites must be compatible to different screen types to eliminate opportunity loss. Having an adaptive website boosts customer satisfaction not only with website navigation but also with the information they can get in handy with every click or slide.
For better understanding of the importance of both responsive and mobile web design, seek professional help. Web designers know the true value of showcasing the best of both worlds when it comes to website navigation or use for mobile, tablet and desktop web technology.
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