What Did Websites Look Like Before Responsive Web Design?
Look at your website on a smart phone or tablet, and what do you see? If your site is more than a couple of years old, you will probably see a website that is difficult to read and navigate. Accessing the site on a mobile phone would mean having to navigate up and down, left and right, and pinching and expanding to read the text. With the explosion of mobile devices that have advanced web-browsing capabilities, your website really needs to accessible and usable on a variety of devices. Responsive Web Design is the solution!
What is Responsive Design?
When your website is built in a responsive design, it means that your website will display in a readable and useable format, no matter what size device is being used. If someone accesses your site from an iPhone, Android or any size tablet, your website will scale to the appropriate size to provide a great user experience. On the surface, this may seem to be a straight-forward process; however, there are a number of nuances that need to be considered. Mobile users, especially, have different wants and needs when interacting with a site. They generally will be looking to make a phone call, or tag the website for further investigation on their laptop or desktop. Sitecats® can help you sort through what will create an optimal experience for all types of users.
Mobile Sites versus Responsive Design
Many clients ask if they can have a separate mobile site rather than utilizing responsive design. While that is an option, having a separate site adds a layer of complication. First, a separate mobile site means that there is another site to maintain. Whatever changes made to the main website would have to be duplicated on the mobile view. A larger issue is that Google prefers that there is just one site for their algorithms to crawl; in fact, you may be penalized for having a separate mobile site. For the best web design and user experience, Sitecats® builds exclusively with Responsive Design.
Getting Started with Responsive Web Design Tri-State (PA, NJ, DE)
Call Sitecats® to learn more about how Responsive Design can help your website performance. Check out our portfolio of projects to see the possibilities.