I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of time waiting. I wait for my wife while she’s shopping, I wait for doctor appointments and I wait for… you know, the list is endless. But, I do take advantage of my wait time by browsing the web using my phone. If I were to look at all of the time I spend browsing the web, I think I use my phone or tablet more than my desktop.
Well, this is where “Responsive Web Design/Development” comes into play…
The greatest thing about responsive web design is that responsive sites can provide flawless user experience across the playing field of many devices and screen sizes; no longer trapped inside of a “fixed pixel” site with all of the pinching and expanding on your handheld device.
Another major advantage is SEO. Responsive sites have one URL and the same HTML markup, no matter the device, which makes life easier for Google to crawl your site. Having a separate mobile and desktop site requires separate SEO configurations, which broadens the field of your site in the wrong way. Simple is usually the best way to go, and a responsive web site is the best way to accomplish this.
Two quality frameworks I use for a responsive design are Twitter Bootstrap or Foundation.zurb. It’s never a problem to create a responsive site from scratch, but it’s very nice to start with a boilerplate and go from there. It all just depends on what you’re looking to accomplish.
If you have the time, check out this great resource:
I’d like to say that Ethan Marcotte is like the Obi-Wan of responsive web…
If you are interested in Responsive Web, drop me a note – I would love to hear from you.
Ben Cato
