At a recent business networking event, I mentioned responsive websites. A couple people in the group asked, “What is a responsive website?” After that meeting I thought a quick explanation of responsive sites could be helpful.
A responsive site is a mobile friendly site that is equally easy to use on a wide array of devices, from smartphones to tablets and up to desktop computers. In the early days of mobile browsing, designers would sometimes only show certain important information on a mobile site, such as food menu on a restaurants website. However, much research has shown that in recent years most users are doing many of the same tasks a on a mobile device as they would on a desktop; from filling out contact forms to placing an eCommerce order. Users are now days using their mobile devices the same as they do a desktop machine. Because of that, we now need to include the same set of information and pages on the mobile viewing experience as on the desktop version.
One of the easiest and best ways to tell if your site is responsive is to go to the Google Responsive Test and type in your website address. Google will do a quick scan of your site and tell you if your site is responsive, and if not it will give you a few key reasons as to what was wrong.
Mobile browsing is quickly becoming one of the most common forms of web usage. If you don’t currently have a responsive, your website is in many ways behind the times. To get your site upgraded to a responsive site, please get in touch with us.