Intro
Responsive web design techniques for all types of devices can sound overwhelming when it comes to building a website. One of the greatest challenges is trying to design a site that will be compatible with different screen sizes. With the amount of new devices that appear on the open market the task can be daunting. After all, if your website’s appearance is not compatible with one screen size it can sabotage your entire business. Not only is a website’s looks important, its functionality is vital as well. Sadly there is no mercy or forgiveness if people have a difficult time navigating through your site. The good news is you do not have to hold years of web design experience to create an affective website. Whether you’re coding or using a website builder there are several techniques to consider in your designing process.
Responsive web design techniques
You can begin designing for a mobile device screen before deciding to move up to larger screens. A common tendency that people have is that they start designing for a desktop screen. Most tutorial videos teach beginners how to design for desktop screens, but completely ignore mobile screens. The problem with this approach is it can take up unnecessary time to make your website compatible with smaller screens. Configuring rows, columns, images, and texts for a mobile screen can be tedious if you do not have much experience. Starting off with a mobile screen can be a much easier process. Website builders like WordPress and Wix make it possible for you to design your page on a mobile view port.
Another resourceful method in creating a responsive web design for all types of devices is utilizing fluid grid layouts. It is vitally important that the elements on your web page are neither too large nor too small. What might appear perfect on a desktop screen might not on a smaller screen. The key to a web page’s appearance is to get the height and width of its elements precise on all screens. One way to achieve this is to go with relative units such as percentages as opposed to fixed units such as pixels. Using percentages for your width and height will allow your website’s elements to adjust to any sized screen. This approach helps you avoid having to spend time manually fixing the measurements on multiple screens.
You can also use media queries in order to have a responsive website on more than one device. If you are coding your website, using CSS media queries can go a long way. It provides you with the opportunity to apply multiple styles and layouts to the size of a particular screen. With this method you have to know the exact screen sizes of the mobile devices. If you are not familiar with CSS and with coding, websites like W3Schools and Mozilla Developer can be informative.
More responsive web design techniques
Using CSS layout techniques such as CSS flexbox and grid can provide excellent responsiveness to your website. Both CSS flexbox and CSS grid allows you to arrange the elements on your page into rows and columns. Flexbox will expand items on your page to fill spaces or shrink items in order to fit spaces on your page. The difference between flexbox and grid is that the former was designed for one dimensional layout while the latter was designed for two-dimensional layout.
Adjusting the size of your images before uploading them is significant when it comes to having a responsive website. The measurement of images plays a tremendous role in whether the appearance of your site is compatible with mobile screens. If an image isn’t properly resized before being uploaded it can appear either too large or skewed on a small screen. To resize an image before uploading it you can use tools such as Adobe, Canva or Microsoft Paint. Consider using a different image if the layout of an image does not properly adjust to a particular screen after you resize it.
Hiding or showing certain elements on your website’s mobile screen can be beneficial. All of the elements that appear on your desktop screen do not need to show on your mobile screen. A less crowded mobile screen helps with user interaction. It is up to you to decide which elements should be visible on a mobile device and which should not. Large images, long texts, and irrelevant information are just a few things that are non essential for mobile screens. The simpler your web design the more appealing your website will be to those viewing it on a smart phone or tablet.
Making sure that the elements on your website are responsive to a touch screen is also a must. When visitors come to your website from a mobile device they come with expectations. They want to be able to scroll with ease, click buttons and navigate to different pages without any delays. If your website does not do these things efficiently it can be detrimental for you. Not only will this cause a negative perception for your site, Google will also castigate you for it. The SEO of your website is determined by how mobile friendly it is. The last thing that you want is for your site to be ranked low on Google search results due to its lack of mobile compatibility.
Conclusion
Now that you have gotten an idea of how your website can respond to all types of devices the next step is for you to optimize it. Before making any major changes to your site I recommend that you test it. Getting feedback from people that you know is a good start. They will let you know which areas of your website need improvement. Google’s mobile friendly test is a free feature that is available for your convenience. This feature tests if the text of your website is readable; its loading speed is efficient, and its overall layout is responsive. If you want to increase your knowledge of how to get a responsive website study other sites in your niche. You will most likely get brilliant ideas from these websites.