Responsive web design is a revolutionary technique for developing websites in such a way that it claims the rightful title of “smart web design”. The real magic of responsive web design is in the additional rules written for the code that it requires to adapt, according to the users’ device or screen resolution. In other words, if a screen is the tank, then responsive web codes are the water that fills the tank’s specific measurements. More precisely, the concept permits for an advanced 4-column layout 1292 pixels wide, on a 1025 pixel width screen that auto-simplifies into 2 columns. These smart codes know when to swap layouts on the smart phone
Responsive web design essentially means designing for ‘what if scenarios’ (for example, if viewed on ‘this’ resolution, do this….) In contrast, traditional web design orients itself with designing for a desktop screen, and designing for mobile devices separately, instead of designing one product that intelligently redistributes its content layout to adapt to different screen resolutions. With an existing website, it is possible to have a mobile website designed, but without designing an entirely new website, it cannot be “responsive”. They are simply two different designs that compliment one another.
There are three very important elements in responsive web design.
- Flexible Layouts
- Flexible Images
- Media Queries
Responsive web designs create flexible layouts so that fluidity is embraced as browser widths change, and fluid grids will resize and reposition elements when necessary. Responsive web design uses flexible images that are ‘context aware’. Consider them floating elements that know where to go when being viewed by a given resolution. The same applies to content (words) and other elements. To achieve scalability, CSS media queries are used to apply different page styling according to certain parameters. The key is in the coding, that allows for all elements to look sharp in every context or resolution, as opposed to shrinking their size (and beauty) to fit a smaller screen, or resorting to the ever-dreaded horizontal scroll.
Responsive Website Design is rather important for any business owner who has a website. With a known statistic that suggests that approximately 50% of Internet browsing is being done from mobile devices, there is a pressing need to deliver positive and enjoyable user experiences regardless of the device being utilized. The following websites will look great on any screen-size. Silentblast interactive is proud to be an innovative web design firm that is excited to introduce our clients to this brilliant technique. Here are some responsive web design examples from our talented community!
