What Is a Responsive Website? Why Is It Important?

In March 2020, more than 50% of internet users accessed the web from their cell phones. Mobile devices have made it easier and more convenient for people to look up information while on the go.

If you are hoping to have your site found by potential customers, then you need to incorporate responsive web design.

What Is Responsive Web Design?

In essence, a responsive website has the ability to automatically adjust to screens of varying sizes. Thus, if a person is looking at your site on their phone, the information will adjust so that it can still be read. The same is true if they decide to look at your site on a laptop or desktop computer.

Having a responsive website means that you have a mobile-friendly website. It means that people can find out about what you have to offer while they are on the go. This can be incredibly beneficial when looking for a way to attract the local crowd to your place of business.

How Does a Responsive Website Work?

Your website is made up of various files. There’s a file for your home page, about page, product page, blog, and any other page that is part of your overall site. Each of these files has an HTML code and content, which is most often text and images, though you may have the occasional video or audio.

When it comes to the styling of web pages, these are placed in files called Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). If you have a mobile-friendly website, one that employs responsive web design, it will apply a specific set of CSS files that allows your site to be visible to customers no matter what device they are using to access it.

To put it simply, CSS files can “detect” the device that a customer uses to access your website and changes the display to match the screen. That’s why your site can be viewed on desktops, cell phones, and other mobile devices and still look good.

A responsive website isn’t complicated, but it is technical. If you don’t have the skills and/or experience to understand HTML, coding or other aspects of your website’s backend, that’s okay.

You always have the option of working with the best web design company in the USA to ensure that your site has the elements it needs to be responsive to whatever device customers use to access it.

Why Is Having a Responsive Website So Important?

With so many people accessing the internet from various devices, you want your information to be clear and easy to read. Customers have a short attention span, and if you can’t grab their interest in about three seconds, then they will go to a site that will. If they access your site from their mobile phone and it’s not responsive and the text is too small, they go to another site that is easier to read.

There are some other benefits that come with having a website that is responsive, and these include the following:

No Redirects

As mentioned, your customers have a short attention span. They want to find what they’re looking for as quickly as possible. If they have to wait a few seconds to be redirected to another site, this may take too long. They may just find another site that doesn’t have a redirect.

With a responsive website, this isn’t an issue. The site looks good no matter what device the person is using. They won’t even notice the CSS working behind the scenes, and that makes their browsing experience exactly what they are hoping for.

Only One Site Design

There was a point in time when if you wanted your website to have a mobile-friendly website design, you had to create a completely new site. This meant having two versions of the same information.

Now, with the advances in technology, you only have to create one site and it changes to fit any device it’s being viewed on. This can save you a lot of time, effort, and money.

The Site Looks the Same

With the different site designs for different devices, you often had to change the fonts and other information so that it could be read on a smaller screen. Again, this is something that no longer has to be done.

A responsive website has the ability to scale all the content on each of your pages so that it looks good and can be read. Your site will look the same no matter what device it’s viewed on, and this helps with your branding efforts.

Are Responsive Designs Here to Stay?

Don’t think that having a responsive website is a passing fad. It’s not. The number of people who use their mobile devices to access the web has been growing exponentially, and this isn’t going to slow down any time soon. Technology also continues to advance, so it’s hard to say what the next big thing in mobile access is going to be.

If your site is already set up to be responsive, you don’t have to worry. It will respond to whatever technology comes next and still look good.

How Do You Get a Responsive Website?

If you are wondering how to make your website responsive, it’s helpful if you work with the best web design company in the USA. They have the technical expertise to help you create a fully responsive, modern site that will look good on any device it’s viewed on. This will help you deliver a more engaging user experience, as well as help you sell the products or services you have to offer.

While it may seem like investing in responsive web development will cost you, it’s actually affordable and cost-effective. If you don’t have a responsive website, you might be missing out on more sales than you realized because people can’t access the information from their mobile devices.

Give yourself every technological advantage you can get. Work with the best web design company to make your site responsive.