Is Your Website Mobile Ready?

The time has come when more people are looking at websites on phones or tablets than on computers.

This means that a website that is loving crafted to look beautiful on a wide screen isn’t seen that way most of the time. It is seen in miniature form and, if not built to be optimized for small screens, will annoy viewers who will have to pinch and zoom to use it.

Responsive web design is an answer to this problem. A responsive website automatically changes form depending on the size of the screen it’s being viewed on. For example, a website that has three columns on a wide screen would have two columns on a tablet and a single column on a smartphone. The columns drop one under the other. This allows the content to maximize the available area on a small screen.

(This website is an example of responsive web design. Look at it on both your laptop and your phone and you will see that the two column wide screen format changes to one for mobile. The text remains readable on the small screen. The navigation is also enhanced for the smartphone touchscreen.)

How is a responsive website different from a mobile website? A mobile website is a completely separate site from your main website. It’s a very good solution when you want a mobile site to be very different from the main site, for example, a stripped down version with only the most important features. Mobile websites are still the right answer in certain situations. (Mobile apps are also an option in these situations.)

But one downside of a separate mobile website is that you have to take care of it separately. When you change your content, you have to change it in two places. Many of the businesses we work with have trouble finding time to take good care of their single website; adding a second website to the mix would pose a problem.The beauty of a responsive website is that one single website reformats to look great on different size screens. It’s the perfect solution for many businesses.