How Responsive Web Design Can Make Your Site More Accessible
When it comes to websites, user experience is everything. A website that is cluttered, poorly designed or hard-to-navigate is likely to lose its audience. After all, competition is high, and people can always go elsewhere to find what they are looking for.
A good user experience applies no matter what type of device or size of screen is being used to browse the website. Anyone who has used different screen sizes will probably know how annoying it is when the text content of a web page is too small to read, but when zoomed in expands outside the boundaries of the screen, requiring scrolling in all directions to view properly.
How much does this matter?
In a nutshell – stacks! In the last couple of years the use of mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones has exploded. People spend time accessing websites while on the train, when having lunch, during work time, in front of the TV, and even while in bed. If you’re not optimising for mobile devices, chances are you are missing out on customers.
What are the issues?
In years gone by companies would create a completely different website for mobile devices. The website would detect if it a user was visiting via a mobile device and display the appropriate website. Developing separate sites for each type of device can be complex and expensive. Also, the website owner needed to maintain two different website which was a hassle, creating inconsistency and confusion for users. For example, a user might begin a find a product they want to purchase while on the train on the way home using a smartphone, then once home attempt to make the transaction from a desktop – only to find that a different site pops up altogether. The user needs to try and find what they were wanting via a completely different website. Frustrating! Managing various websites also requires developing SEO for each one as well – making it even more complex and time-consuming.
Unfortunately some web developers are still doing it this old school way when there is a better alternative – responsive web design.
Responsive web design – an overview
Responsive websites ‘respond’ to the screensize and display an appropriate layout of the same website. Responsive web design makes allowances for different screen sizes for the same website. Techniques for doing this depend on what works best for the particular site. They include:
- Fluid grid – a grid designed in terms of proportions rather than pixels or percentages. It results in all the page elements resizing on different screens relative to each other, so that they all fit on the screen.
- Media queries – a module that allows content rendering to adapt to screen size and resolution.
The fluid grid technique has some limitations in that elements can start to break down on very narrow screens. However, when used together these two techniques can make for very adaptable screen displays – although it is possible to just use one technique or the other depending on what is needed.
Why make use of this technology?
As a business owner, if you want to keep up with current trends and remain competitive online, you not only need to have a website that is search engine optimised, well designed and professional, but also one that is optimised for mobile devices. If you’re not optimising for mobile, you’re probably not providing the best user experience, which could lead to your users going elsewhere (your competitors).
