Responsive Web Design and how it works?
You will find that these days, smartphones phones are used by everyone to surf the internet from looking at online groceries to e-commerce websites. However, most users face the issue of display size as the mobile version of the website needs to put up differently for different screen sizes. Thus, as a web designer, you need to satisfy all the needs of users using different devices.
The layout of the webpage is bound to change as everyone’s smartphone has its e and size. You’ve to build websites that will adjust to new screen sizes with every passing day. Every other device on the market interacts differently with a particular website. There will be users using a touchscreen and some using a qwerty keypad. You need to build a website that will be responsive to all types and make sure the user gets an enjoyable experience.
In the coming six to seven years, there will be new designs for better inventions and this will go on, it’s not coming to a pause. In the field of development for web design, we are gradually going towards the point where we will be unable to keep up with new devices and their resolutions. At times it’s not probable or practical to build mobile versions of websites for new devices of varied resolution. So now the question that begs to be answered, are we going to lose the audience for shifting to another device for gaining more visitors, or do we still have an option? And the answer is Responsive web designing.
What do you mean by Responsive Web Design?
This is an approach that suggests designers’ design and develops in a certain way so that it responds to the nature of the user, the environment he is using, and the platform he is using. This approach utilizes a flexible set of images and layout with the help of strong media queries. As your audience will be switching from their desktop to android, the website will be changing its resolution depending on the size and abilities of the script.
Yet one needs to consider the settings on one individual’s device, if they have a VPN for Android, the website must not block the access of the user to its webpage. The website should be good enough for the preference of the technology a user has. The need for a different design will be minimized with a new gadget. Just for fun, to check if any website is responsive or not there is a simple trick that almost every browser provides.
Go to any website and right click on the screen
Click on “Inspect” and on top of the new window, you will see devices icon
Click on that shows screen width x height
You can choose responsive or any specific device and it will display how that website will look.
What is the concept behind the Responsive Web Design?
Just like architecture, a web design must be responsive enough to adjust quickly, as it won’t have custom remedies for specific types of users. As web designs that are responsive need an abstract level of thinking. But one shouldn’t mistake web design to be only used for adjusting screen resolution or resizing images. As it gives us a new approach to understanding design.
How these concepts help in designing a responsive design?
Image
One of the biggest issues that need to be solved right now is better working with images when it comes to web design. You will find a varied list of techniques that you can use to resize images properly and can be easily completed. If no other width-based image overrides this rule, then almost all images load in its real size of the viewing area. You have to make sure that the utmost width of the image is a hundred percent of the width of the browser so that it becomes the same percent narrower in respect to the image. However, you can’t declare the dimensions of the image in the code but you can let the browser resize them as and when necessary. It’s an easy and simple way to resize the images by using just the following CSS command:
image{max-width:100%};
Media Queries
At times due to needing extreme size changes, we have to change the whole Layout by adding a new stylesheet or with the help of CSS media query. This won’t be causing any issue as most of the styles will be as it is, while only a few of the stylesheets will take the new updates on and move around the elements and the dimensions. Suppose if you take an example, you have one main style sheet that will be used to define all the elements that add structure to the sheet. A CSS media query looks like this:
@media only screen and (min-width: 480px) and (max-width: 1200px) {
/*CSS rules that will be applied to mentioned screen sizes*/
}
Font Size
Imagine the font size you see on your mobile phone is also used for your desktop. Only way you can comfortably read that text is if you put your desktop screen in your lap, which as you may assume is not practical. Always keep in mind to change the size of font corresponding to the change in screen size.
Scalable media
Use media like images that doesn’t lose their clarity when size of the screen is increased. As you see, most of the images starts to distort when they are zoomed beyond a specific size. The solution for this is using SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format images. SVGs, unlike JPGs and PNGs, remains intact even if screen size changes.
Content Abstraction
It’s quite reasonable to make all the elements present in your webpage shrink so that it fits everything present in the website when your screen gets smaller in size. However, reducing the size of the elements present on the screen when screens get smaller isn’t the best option. You can utilize practices like better navigation by throwing light more on the content, and using lists instead of a large number of columns for mobile browsers.
So as a designer you’ve to be efficient enough to build designs that will be responsive to your audience, and don’t need a lot of learning and stress. So that the product output is maximum and effective on a single platform. However, this might not be the final solution to the ever-evolving world we are living in. This approach, if it’s properly implemented, can improve the user experience greatly but you won’t be able to solve the problems for every other consumer who is facing an issue. So as a designer we constantly need to work with improved devices and technologies so that you can create a better experience for the user in the days to come.
