What Does It Mean to Have Your Website “Be Responsive?”
How a Responsive Website Works
A typical website is comprised of a set of files (each web page—home page, about page, etc.—is an individual file). Each file contains HTML code and content (text and images). Web pages are styled with files called Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). For ease of explanation, let us say that a standard (non-responsive) website has a set of files and a few CSS files that govern the look of the site. A responsive website applies an alternate set of CSS files depending on the device being used to access the site. The site looks and ‘responds’ differently based on the device.
Why It Is Important to Have a Responsive Web Design
There was a time when people only accessed websites from a desktop computer. The vast majority had the same size monitor. Websites were designed for the average visitor. Today, people access websites from a variety of different devices with screens ranging from a few inches all the way up to 27″ or more and expectations have changed. Consumers expect the website they are visiting to know that they’re using a tablet vs. a PC. They expect the site to adjust to them—not the other way around. Different devices also come with different expectations in terms of usability. A site that is responsive takes all of this into account and automatically adjust to provide visitors with the best possible user experience regardless of the device being used to access the site.
Proof in Numbers
57 percent of users say they will not recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site (socPub)
?57 percent of all US online traffic now comes from smartphones and tablets (BrightEdge, 2017)
?69 percent of smartphone users also say that they are more likely to buy from companies with mobile sites that easily address their questions or concerns (BrightEdge, 2017)
?People today have 2X more interactions with brands on mobile than anywhere else—that includes TV, in-store, you name it (Google, 2017)
?50 percent of B2B search queries today are made on smartphones and will grow to 70 percent by 2020
?Three in four smartphone owners turn to mobile search first to address their immediate needs (Google, 2017)
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