Why Responsive Design Matters

The day has finally come.  Internet ad spending beat broadcast TV for the first time in 2013, thanks to a surge of spending in mobile ads. It's no surprise that businesses are putting more advertising dollars towards the Internet; highlights of the Pew Internet Project's 2014 research shows that 58% of American adults have a smartphone and 42% of American adults own a tablet computer...and that we're spending 11 hours a day consuming electronic media...and over an hour a day on our smart phones.

As more people consume content via smart phones and tablets, it becomes even more important for marketers to deliver our content in a way that is consistent in our brand and messaging and easy to consume. Wikipedia explains that responsive web design "is a web design approach aimed at crafting sites to provide an optimal viewing experience--easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling--across a wide range of devices (from mobile phones to desktop computer monitors)."

Awwwards has compiled several examples of the best website designs using responsive design. The screen shots below show how www.reddeerspca.com appears seamlessly and consistently across different devices. This site is one of many that received an honorable mention for its design. See the rest here.

When someone is viewing the Red Deer SPCA website, no matter on what device, the menu options stay the same, but the image size and layout (such as the featured pets' photos) automatically adjust to suit the orientation and size of the browser size. This means that all users are going to get the same experience every single time.

Responsive Web Design example - Red Deer SPCA's website as it appears on desktops & laptops

Responsive Web Design example - Red Deer SPCA's website as it appears on a tablet

Responsive Web Design example - Red Deer SPCA's website as it appears on a smart phone

If you're building a new website, it's important to consider your audience--and your audience is likely accessing your website via desktops and other devices. Create-your-own website provider, www.squarespace.com, offers dozens of templates that utilize responsive web design...creating a better experience for your users, one website at a time.