Share This Article
With a mobile internet population that is expected to surpass desktop users by 2020, slapping a website design onto your standard monitor and calling it a day is no longer enough. You must take into account all the different smartphones, tablets and 2-in-1 laptop screens your visitors will use to browse your site when designing your content and layout. That’s where responsive web development comes in. This technique allows you to build a single website that looks great on all devices. While there are plenty of advantages to using a responsive design method, there are also a few important things you must keep in mind. First of all, it’s not a replacement for traditional website design.
Instead of creating a separate website for every screen size and resolution, responsive websites use fluid grids to adjust their layouts according to the size of a user’s browser or device. This is accomplished by defining media queries in your CSS that determine when to apply a specific layout. These media queries are triggered by the screen’s width or orientation. They tell your website’s code how to resize, stretch or remove certain elements depending on what the browser is viewing. In addition to these rules, a good responsive website will also use flexible images that scale proportionally to avoid pixelation or weird stretching. It will also use float and clear fixes to help maintain a good visual structure and make sure that all media objects are blocked together in order to prevent gaps in your layout.
While a responsive website is a great way to optimize your content for multiple screens, there’s still a lot of work that needs to go into creating one that’s actually useful and easy to read on all devices. To do this, you’ll need to follow a few best practices including using a mobile-first approach, setting up three or more breakpoints, prioritizing or hiding content and taking into account the WCAG’s success criteria for accessibility. Responsive Web Development: Conclusion: When it comes to responsive web development, the best way to learn is by looking at examples of sites that have been built in this way. This will allow you to see how different elements have been rearranged and moved around on the page in order to create a readable, functional layout for each breakpoint.
It’s also a good idea to search for websites that are designed for different types of audiences so that you can find designs that are optimized for a variety of uses and capabilities. By learning about these different building blocks, analyzing examples with web dev tools and practicing as you go, you’ll soon be on your way to mastering the art of responsive web development. By the time you’re done, you’ll be able to create beautiful and effective websites that will look great on all devices.