The 10 Steps for Responsive Web Design

The 10 Steps for Responsive Web Design

Hermit Chawla
May 11, 2021

Responsive web design is all about creation of web pages using CSS and HTML that would look the best on all devices like phones, tablets, desktops, laptops etc. It can automatically hide, shrink, resize or enlarge a website. RWD (Responsive Web Design) at the moment is present everywhere. It is unquestionable that people now are interacting with the web more than ever; also it is being used in a much more different way than it was being before.  It is now vital for web designers to build content for all of the diverse devices on which the web can be accessed, and to do their very best at it, so that's where responsive web design comes in the frame.

Here are the steps for creating a Responsive Web Design:

1. What is Responsive Web Design?

It is a concept that will surely help to find a way forward. It is developing a single web design that functions in such a way that it spontaneously counters the viewing environment of the user, instead of generating a different web design for every device that a user might or might not be using. So, practising Responsive Web design in your web pages can turn out to be very helpful.

2. The Technical Challenges

Just like any other web designing, Responsive Web Design also comes with its challenges. Some of the biggest of them are:

  • Content: firstly, you should know if people looking at a web site on a mobile long to see the same thing as the ones using the complete site on a desktop? Also, you should know if content that is being served will differ between devices?
  • Managing Assets: usually, large images and other media can be scaled down to be suitable for smaller devices, but how will you fight the page blow up and slow site speed that this may make?
  • Pixel density: another question arises; how will the web developers create content that will look just as good on a large desktop display as it does on small devices with different pixel densities?
  • Testing: the final question is; how can you test a responsive web design website on all of the different devices on which it might be accessed by the user?

3. Have a Mobile-Friendly Strategy:

While designing a responsive website, you should start with mobile styles as, if someone comes across your site by means of a device or browser that does not support media queries, they will still be able to see the mobile version of your site. This is measured as a best practice for a couple of reasons:

  • A Mobile first design helps to emphasize on what actually matters in account for limited screen
  • Mobile first design helps widen your grasp to devices that do not support media queries.

4. Make Content a Top Priority.

Content has a whole lot to do with web designing. People visit your website for content that you offer and not amazing graphics or beautiful banners. Content helps build a site up. You need to ensure that the content available on your website is easily accessible to the users even if the screen size is limited.

5. Implementing JavaScript

It can be used with a very careful consideration to alter the course of the site and change the position of the elements with respect to the size of device on which it might be put on show. JavaScript is particularly relevant with images, as there is no particular standard way of serving diverse sized images across various devices. Moving back to our content and mobile friendly approach, one method to handle images is to make use of HTML5, using which the lowest possible image size will be exhibited automatically, with the use of a larger image when required. All devices are served as the same using HTML and JavaScript to request the right image size on the user’s display environment. Just like all other things, this method has its good side that it uses valid HTML5 markup and it's bad that on larger displays, the larger image will be loaded after the smaller one, unless a cookie is being used.

 6. Implementing CSS

It is the most basic form used for creating a responsive web-design, but still it not the most readily accepted one. It has been around since CSS2.1 that has style sheets that are print friendly, till today CSS specification when media queries have been added to it.

7. Implementing RESS

Responsive Web Designing with RSS (Server Side Components) is yet another way of implementing RWD, and helps fight the drawbacks of using JavaScript. With making the use of RESS, the device that is being used is identified before the page loads, that result in improved images and content that are only served for that device. This means that the elements can be concealed or change the position without any jumping in the browser while the page loads, and also while the amount of bandwidth being  used is reduced.

8. Don’t Neglect Navigation

It is one of the most significant assets of a website. It is also the one that web designers most regrettably go wrong with. And so, you wouldn’t want your navigation menu to be in the way of significant content, but you also should make sure that your users can navigate effortlessly no matter what device they use. Therefore, you need to have a balance by making your site’s navigation as spontaneous as possible without making it disruptive. The best practice is to skin the navigation menu on reduced screens while allowing users to access it whenever necessary.

 9. Investing in Testing

Only because your website looks amazing on your own computer and smartphones, it doesn’t mean others using it will have the very same experience of it. Therefore, once you have executed your methodically planned responsive web design, you will need to test that it actually does work. You need to consider that you need to know how the site will perform on a lot of devices.

10. Justifying  the costs

It is worthy to say that designing a RWD is expensive and slow. It’s just that there is a lot more investment required for the same in its early stages. A RWD makes a website more viable for future and increases customer satisfaction.

Hermit Chawla is a MD at AIS Technolabs which is a Web/App design and Development Company, helping global businesses to grow by Global Clients. He love to share his thoughts on Web & App Development, Clone App Development and Game Development.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hermit-chawla-lion-82b6513b

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