In a 2010 blog, “Responsive Web Design”, Ethan Marcotte, the chief editor at alistpart.com, indicated:
“Working on the web, however, is a wholly different matter. Our work is defined by its transience, often refined or replaced within a year or two. Inconsistent window widths, screen resolutions, user preferences, and our users’ installed fonts are but a few of the intangibles we negotiate when we publish our work, and over the years, we’ve become incredibly adept at doing so.”
Mashable, the biggest blog of our generation, declared 2013 the Year of Responsive Web Design. The same year, Forbes featured a big editorial, ‘Why You Need to Prioritise Responsive Design Now’, calling responsive web design as the future of www.
Responsive Web Design
In simple terms, Responsive websites streamline internet marketing and Search Engine Optimization. As a replacement of having to develop and manage content for numerous websites, businesses with responsive sites can take a unified approach to content management because they have only the one responsive site to manage. Responsive sites are a great step forward in the direction of saving not only time, but also money, truly a great step ahead for businesses.
Sub Domain Mobile site
On the other hand, if the business has a subdomain mobile site, something like m.mysite.com, someone examining products and services online can get unsatisfied by the shortage of far-reaching content on the mobile site or the incapability to steer the full site on a mobile based device. A potential customer abandoning your site for the sheer lack of content is definitely not a good sign for a business, let alone a start-up.
The threshold
The time has come to give up on mobile sites and to start prioritising responsive design. A website that come out with an optimized layout irrespective of the device it’s loaded on, isn’t it a great idea? A true unified approach.
The Future
The internet is emerging as a platform of services and UIs. Blending, leveraging on this platform. The future is integration and unification if Responsive Web Design philosophy is to be believed, making way for tighter integration in the layers between back-end services and front-end layers. Leveraging those services on the top of a responsive design will give rise to more beautiful applications, faster time to market, and lower development costs. Imagine a plethora of services, products and application, all optimised with the today’s gadget. A step towards a beautiful web, isn’t it?
Comparison:
Mobile Responsive site vs Sub domain Mobile Website
Feature | Pros | Feature | Cons |
---|---|---|---|
A single website | Manage a single website for all devices | A single website and URL | Getting conversions on a responsive design are harder |
A single URL | No redirects | Technical | A newer technology: legacy devices were more compatible with mobile sites |
Easy SEO | No need to create separate content for desktop and mobile site | User Experience (UX) | UX optimized for desktop may not be well on a mobile and vice a versa |
Low maintenance | Single website, lower costs of maintenance |
Why responsive design is even more important starting 21 April?
As I mentioned, Google has just announced through its official “Google Webmaster Central Blogspot” that the new update–dubbed “Mobile-Friendly Ranking Algorithm”–will be effective from April 21. Following the update, mobile friendliness will be a substantial ranking signal in Google’s search algorithm, taking further its already prominent insistence on mobile devices to the next level.
This update will influence 40% of mobile search queries, whereas Panda affected about 12% of all English queries and Penguin was closer to 4% of global queries across both desktop and mobile.
The world is switching to responsive web design. It’s time for you to make the move or to be left behind.