Over the next few years, the phrase “responsive design” will be spoken again and again. The reason is straightforward. According to Kayla Knight, “Responsive web design is the approach that suggests that design and development should respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on screen size, platform and orientation. As the user switches from their laptop to iPad, the website should automatically switch to accommodate for resolution, image size and scripting abilities. This would eliminate the need for a different design and development phase for each new gadget on the market.”
What will drive the exodus to responsive design is mobile. In a marketplace where 91% of all smartphone users have their phones within an arm’s reach 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the idea of mobile being a premium segregated upgrade is neither wise nor sustainable.
Attaining responsive solutions will require wholesale recoding and ground zero build outs to capture the attention of 90% of mobile users that act as a result of their mobile browsing. Non-responsive web architectures will become fading spots in the rear view mirrors of evolving Next Gen technologies. According to Bridgeline Visual, “As recently as a few years ago, visitors may have given a business a pass if their website appeared fragmented on an alternative platform to a PC. Contemporary websites, however, are held to a different standard. Visitors don’t care if a website looks great on a desktop, but appears disjointed on a smart device—they expect a company’s website to look good on any device. No matter what device a visitor is working off of, a bad website experience speaks volumes about a company. And once damaged, a company’s image is difficult to repair.”
Responsive web design is the future. Open source is the optimal approach.
