Have you ever visited a website and the layout was not properly fitting on the screen, either it was going out of the screen or the page looked as if it was not designed for your device? What you experienced was a non responsive web design.
Table of Contents
What is Responsive Web Design?
Responsive Web Design is basically laying out the website’s elements and content according to the user’s device, orientation and resolution. This is mainly achieved using the CSS media queries. Any change in the users resolution or orientation will immediately change the design of the page accordingly to suit the new factors.
How Does It Work?
Say you are visiting a website using your smartphone. Now as soon as you load the url, if any css media query rule is set to target your device based on min-width, max-width or device-width rules, then those particular css properties are going to be loaded. This will make the website load perfectly on your device without any design horrors.
Different Aspects of Responsive Web Design:
Screen Resolution
There is no fixed number for the screen resolutions on the smartphones being manufactured today. Even the same company doesn’t have the same resolution on different models. That’s why it is important to make the website’s design handle the different resolutions perfectly.
CSS Media Queries
Media query is basically a rule in CSS3 to apply CSS styles according to different conditions. It includes targeting using device-width, max-width and orientation of the device.
Handling Cursors Vs Touchscreens
There are many desktop functions that are lacking in mobile devices. For example, there is no css hover property in mobiles. So it is important to keep both the platforms in mind while designing. Any lack of feature should be supplemented with a fix for the touchscreens if necessary.
Viewport
Viewport is basically the area of a browser which is visible to the user and where the content will be shown. Viewport is going to vary based on different device sizes and will be completely different for smartphones and desktop screens.
<meta name=”viewport” content=”width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0″>
This code is inserted in the <head> section of a HTML page to tell the browser what the viewport size should be.
Final Thoughts
If your website’s design is responsive then it doesn’t matter if the user is visiting your website using a phone, tablet or laptop. The experience will be smooth in every device. Your website should adapt according to the user’s screen resolution and platform seamlessly. The world of mobile devices is changing fast and the need of the hour is to keep your websites design up to date with it. Failing to do so will make you leave money on the table.