Responsive Web Design
Businesses
that want to compete in the growing world of mobile commerce and
content need a mobile strategy. While native apps can help provide a
seamless user experience, there are products and services where an app
may not be the right choice. This is where other solutions come in.
One
solution is responsive web design. Responsive web design gives users a
seamless web experience on all devices with different screen sizes. The
concept may seem intuitive, but the planning and execution require
forethought.
Here are some things to know when you opt for responsive web design:
Set Realistic Expectations: Know Limitations and Differences
It’s
important to know the limitations of responsive web design. Not all
desktop web experiences translate to mobile — whether in-app or on a
site. For example, features like mouse-over or hover states that are
present in desktop user experiences cannot currently function in the
same way on mobile. In turn, mobile web experiences do not always serve
the perhaps more complex needs of the desktop user. This brings to light
the importance of identifying and framing variations in content
priorities for the mobile, tablet and desktop experiences, since all of
these come with assumed user scenarios that are attached to each.
Mobile First
In user experience (UX), thinking “mobile
first” is an approach that many UX designers adopt when planning for a
responsive site. Content that mobile users are most likely to seek is
identified and given appropriate hierarchical placement through
sitemaps, sketch or wireframe, and design. Mobile-first thinking also
takes into consideration how the layout of things will adapt according
to the viewport orientations of various devices, as well as screen
resolutions.
The goal of thinking mobile first is to ask and
provide design solutions to the question, “What can be done to make this
mobile user experience as seamless as possible?” To answer this,
consider the amount of action that is required of the user to perform a
specific task, and try to boil those down to the absolute essentials,
considering the relatively smaller screen size. This goes hand in hand
with aiming to minimize the site’s loading time by reducing requests and
file size on the development side.
Longer Architecture and Development Phases
Depending
on the workflow method, designing and coding for several platforms and
breakpoints can take considerably more time than the traditional
desktop-only design-to-development process. Responsive web design
therefore has ever-expanding content management needs as well.
Test, Test, Test
Before
you launch your website, make sure to test it on all major devices such
as iPhone, Android, iPad and browsers such as Chrome, Safari, Internet
Explorer, Firefox, etc. Although this seems tedious, it’s a very
important step because every device and/or browser will display your
website differently. Emulators can be a great help, but there’s nothing
like testing on the actual device and browser. When available and/or
applicable, beta testing on users will undoubtedly provide valuable
feedback.
There are definitely some challenges when opting for
responsive web design, but you may find that it’s worth it, as it
creates an opportunity for you and your business to connect with
visitors with more versatility and provide an altogether more seamless
user experience.
What do you think? Drop a line in the comments section below and share your opinion.
No comments:
Post a Comment