Misc

The Crucial Importance of Responsive Web Design

Author
Anna Veitch
Published
24th July 2021
Length
2 minute read

With today’s internet users switching constantly between desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones and even their TV’s throughout their day, it’s imperative that your site can adapt.

We’ve all had the displeasure of opening a site on our smartphone and feeling mildly triggered by just how defunct the whole thing is, with content and imagery scattered all over the place in a haphazard and largely indecipherable way. Today, we’re going to be running through a brief overview of exactly what responsive design is and why it has quickly become so important in this day and age.

 

So, what’s the commotion all about?

Responsive design refers to the way in which your site is able to handle the adjustment to various sizes of screen. A responsive site will be just as aesthetically pleasing and easy to use whether the visitor is browsing via their desktop, tablet or smartphone. Thus eschewing the need for any fiddly zooming or horizontal scrolling in order to access content and images that have been obscured.

Is it really all that critical, though?

Yes! It absolutely is. Here’s why…

#1 It’s all about the mobile

As it currently stands, around 52% of global web traffic is accounted for by mobile use according to this breakdown from Oblero, which marks a sharp increase from the 2015 figure of 31%. When you take a moment to consider whopping stats such as these, it becomes pretty clear to see why it’s so fundamentally important that your site is able to scale its imagery and content up or down depending upon which device is accessing it. It’s not just about laptops and desktops anymore.

So, instead of opting for a dual version site, why not just go full-on responsive?

 

#3 Fly your flag high with a better user experience

Responsive web design means a user will have the best possible experience when browsing your site, regardless of which device they’re using. When you build with responsiveness in mind, you create a site that is optimised to both look better and load faster. Without the pesky delays of standard mobile versions, users come away feeling as though they’ve had a far better experience and are more likely to return time and time again.

 

#2 Good old SEO, baby

Yeah, yeah, that’s right, we’re talking SEO again. But only because it really is so very important in the world of web design. Over the last few years, Google’s Mobile-First Indexing has been slowly but surely taking over the web and as of March this year it became the norm for all sites, making it the standard now. Mobile-First Indexing refers to the way in which only mobile-friendly versions of sites are registered and visible in Google’s organic search results.

If your site is responsive, you have no need to fret, as it’ll be up to speed with all of the requirements of this update. Seeing as though responsive sites only have one URL, google is best positioned to crawl, index and organise content. So if you’re mobile-friendly, you’ll be better positioned to bop to the top of search results.

 

Wrap up

So, it’s pretty clear to see that if you’re savvy, you’ll be getting up to speed with the need for responsive web design. By providing the best user experience possible across all devices, you’ll be better favoured by all those who visit your site, as well as by Google and other search engines. So, what are you waiting for? Time to get to work!

Make sure your website looks effective and extremely contemporary across all devices and win across the board.

Contact Us

Let’s get the ball rolling.

Get A Quote

We are passionate about innovation, ideas and experience. Tell us about yourself and your project and we can start the ball rolling.