Responsive design is the most significant and fast-growing trend in website development. Instead of designing websites for a single device, responsive design uses CSS3 media queries to serve the same content on different devices and browsers
Our worst fear as website owners/authors is that our website remains inaccessible/unoptimized for mobile visitors. A few years back Desktops were the main source of traffic and webmasters would design websites that were well suited for use on Desktop/Laptop screen sizes.
However, now things have changed significantly and the focus shifted to multi-device web design optimization. Thanks to technological advancements the computer devices are getting cheaper and more accessible to larger sections of society.
In this article, I have discussed some techniques to convert an unresponsive Website to Responsive and have also discussed how the Responsive Menu Plugin can help you in this process.
Key Techniques:
#1 Identify Breakpoints
#2 Write Styles focused on multiple devices
#3 Review Responsive Design
#4 Improve on UX
#5 Best Experience = Flexible Media
#6 Be ready for different Interactions
Why Mobile Responsive Website Design is Important?
A responsive web design is one that fits the user’s device perfectly. If the user is using a smartphone then the site should automatically structure itself with the screen dimensions, or if the user is using a tablet the site also should be able to handle it smoothly.
The sales of smartphones have skyrocketed since then and so is the need to design websites that are mobile-friendly and fully responsive.
Modern web development techniques let you optimize your website and make it accessible on new browsers/OS combinations and multiple screen sizes. Some of its benefits include:
- Improves Google Ranking – When the design is highly mobile responsive, this enables the users to have a flawless browsing experience. This builds the web site’s reputation and enables it to appear during Google’s search. This will lead to a high rank in Google.
- Leads to Higher Conversions – Quality web design has a direct effect on your customer’s satisfaction, user experience, and ultimately conversions. By giving your users an awesome site, you can expect a return on your investment in the form of more sales, longer visitor times, and ultimately, higher conversions.
Techniques to Convert an Unresponsive Website to Responsive
#1 Identify Breakpoints
The first thing you need to do when creating a website is to decide how many layouts you need to make, and the amount of effort that will go into making these layouts.
While it may seem more efficient to create one layout that works well for all devices, this is not always the case. Each device requires a unique layout in order to make an optimal user experience.
If you plan to design for multiple devices, you need to determine breakpoints first. The way to do this is to study your current site’s content and identify places where it naturally breaks down.
Once you’re done with that, you can decide on appropriate screen width breakpoints, and plan how your content would adjust accordingly.
#2 Write Styles that are focused on Mobile, Tablet, and Desktop Devices
Media queries enable you to use CSS to selectively apply styles to a website or web page based on the screen size, orientation or environment of the device that is displaying the content.
They let you tailor your site and give each screen the right layout for its characteristics. Then, you can find the right tools to build it. In simple terms, Media Queries help to decide what style to display to that particular screen size.
#3 Review Responsive Design
When working with responsive design you’re required to check the behavior for mobile browsers so that media queries could work properly. Usually, web pages on browsers are displayed in full view also allowing the user to zoom in to access the required text.
For this, you need to alter the zoom behavior for mobile-specific browsers so the media queries work properly. Evaluate the design of a website by transposing it to various web browsers. This will ensure that a website is set in its optimum format for the optimum viewing experience.
Expert Tip: Make use of responsinator.com to quickly check how your website will look across devices without the need of individually viewing the sites on each device
#4 Improve on UX
Improvise Typography and Navigation. Navigation in the form of Header Bar or Top Navigation Menu helps the user to quickly find what they are looking for in your website.
Responsive Menu Plugin is a free WordPress Navigation Menu Plugin that can help you build responsive, interactive, and eye-pleasing mobile-friendly navigation menus in minutes without writing any code.
Using Responsive Menu Pro you can enable and customize a header bar and add Megamenu with submenus for up to 5 levels. Responsive Menu Pro allows you to do much more thus helping your visitors with the information they need.
Typography is extremely important to provide your website an identity. It is the first thing that the user recognizes and relates to whenever he sees a similar kind of design elsewhere.
#5 Best Experience = Flexible Media
The most crucial aspect of responsive design is flexibility, be certain that all media including images and videos are perfectly sized. Your aim must be to optimize media that will be ultimately viewed on a variety of devices.
To ensure your media is responsive, not only must you be aware of the fastest sizes for your site but also be able to serve the correct media for the device your site is being viewed on.
The need to optimize media in a responsive design project is essential, to ensure a high-quality user experience across devices. While screen sizes are different, between mobile phones and monitors, it’s important to maintain the layout flexible. That can be achieved by preventing an element from being larger than its container.
#6 Be ready for different Interactions
Be prepared to receive visitors with different interactions with various devices. To get happy customers you need to create a properly designed website that will effectively handle different types of interactions and screens.
It is essential to have a correctly prepared website that will react to the correct user inputs. Users might try several ways to reach your pages or deploy more than one browser or more than one device. Your content, as well as your design, need to be flexible enough to easily adjust to new devices and resolutions and change with them
Conclusion
With the rise in technology, people can get information quicker than ever, and they expect websites to be just as quick. A poorly designed website is a nightmare for people who browse the web on phones and tablets.
Anywhere, anytime, any device. One of the most common trends in web design nowadays involves doing away with desktop-dependent, home customized websites and going mobile-friendly instead.
This article was in one way putting forward the benefits of having a Responsive Website Design. Hope you understood how to convert an Unresponsive Website to a Responsive one.
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