A Quick Intro to Responsive Web Design

So what is responsive web design and why is it the way of the future? Well, to put it simply a responsive design is one that scales down, reshuffling content, to fit perfectly in any browser window. Considering 71% of Australian's use their smart phones to browse the internet, having a responsive design is an effective way to ensure your website is accessible on both mobile and desktop.

Typically we can scale a web design in four stages, catering for widescreen desktop, laptop, tablet and smart phone. This will give the user the best experience possible without forcing them to adapt.

There are two ways responsive web design can be utilised to give your users the best experience. One way is to adapt content and the other is to adapt the layout.

With the first option, this means if the user is viewing your website on their smart phone the content displayed first will be the most important and largest. For example if you have a cafe website, people viewing your site on their mobile would most likely want to see your contact details and open times, then probably the menu. These three items would be displayed first even if on the desktop version of the website they are in the footer.

The second option is a little more simple, it's just a reshuffling of the website layout so it fits in the window users are viewing it in. All content will be stacked without compromising in font size and clarity.

Responsive web design is the way of the future as only one site needs to be created rather than potentially 3 (to cater for desktop, tablet and smart phone at a minimum). It quickly delivers your users the content they want without compromise.