With more and more people globally accessing the web through their smartphones, there is a growing necessity for websites to be mobile-friendly. In order to keep an increasing mobile audience engaged, a given website must adapt its design and layout – retaining its brand image and usability – to fit the varying resolutions of different devices. Research done by Pew Research Centre shows that over half (55%) of the 5 billion-plus mobile owners around the world access mobile web, and their impressions count: 57% consumers will not recommend a badly designed, inadaptable mobile site.
This is where responsive design comes in. Responsive design is adaptive: the design responds to whichever device is being used – whether a tablet, mobile or desktop – and adapts its pixels so that the site remains well laid out and navigable. It uses smart mark-up and fluid grids and images so that the content adjusts to the screen resolution, making it mobile-ready.