The World Wide Web took off faster than anyone could have predicted. In the past few years mobile growth has made its presence known as well. It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t own a type of device these days that’s connected to the internet on the move. It is no surprise that this kind of browsing has grown so quickly and overtaken traditional desktop access.
With this growth, a question on how to make the web pages suitable for all the device users has also come along. One answer has become the typical response to this question and that is responsive web design or RWD. This is where a website is built to be compatible with all devices and screen sizes, including both desktop and mobile. RWD’s focus is to provide a gratifying and intuitive experience for all.
For many people, responsive might not exactly be a new term and others will be more familiar with mobile or adaptive. This could leave you thinking what the differences between them are exactly. Adaptive and responsive design are actually closely related and are often referred to as one in the same. Responsive usually means to react positively and quickly to changes, while adaptive means to be easily modified for a new situation or purpose.
With responsive designs, websites are altered fluidly and continually based on numerous factors, like viewpoint width for example. Adaptive sites on the other hand, are typically constructed by a group of factors that have been preset. A mix of both is the ideal situation, providing a formula that fits perfectly for functioning websites.
Responsive web design is comprised of three main aspects; media queries, flexible media and flexible layouts. The latter is a practice wherein the website’s layout is built with the help of a dynamic grid, which can size itself to any width. These grids are built with relative length units, such as em units or percentages. These lengths are then utilised to declare common grid property values.
Media queries were made as an extension to media types. The queries give you the ability to specify unique styles for different device and browser circumstances, such as orientation or viewport width for example. One’s potential to implement specially targeted styles therefore opens up bold new possibilities when it comes to responsive web design.
The last aspect is flexible media. Once viewports start to alter, the size doesn’t always follow on. Videos, images and other content have to be scalable, changing their size along with the viewport. A fast way to do this is by using the max-width code with a value of 100%. This shall ensure that the media will scale down according to the container’s width.
Understanding how the various aspects of web development work is key to building the best site. If you possess excellent knowledge on responsive web design, you are sure to succeed in your efforts of creating an effective website.
If you would like any help please feel free to contact Web Consultancy. Our experienced team can offer advice and professional services if you want to upgrade your website.