Three Crucial Tips for Effective Responsive Web Sites

In 2015 businesses simply cannot ignore that their users are viewing their web site on mobile devices. Responsive web design has emerged as the de facto trend as it allows sites to adapt to smaller screens.

This makes the need for responsive design critical, as it adapts your web site design to both the size and connection speed of smaller devices.

A few handy tips can greatly improve the performance of you responsive web site.

Mobile First

A mobile first strategy involve designing the mobile site first and then scaling up for tablets and desktop computers. If your web site looks good and is easy to read on a mobile device it won’t be hard to read on a desktop. Starting with mobile allows you to work down your site to its essentials elements. This allows you to streamline and focus your message. Once you have locked down a design that excels on the small display of a mobile device it can easily be expanded to fit larger areas.

Navigation

Navigation is one of the most critical elements of a responsive web site. Success and failure often depends on the user experience created by the sites’ navigation.  Users no longer will stumble around web sites trying to find what they are looking for. In this day and age users expect interfaces to be intuitive and easy to use.  Good sites typically have self explanatory navigation.

Simplify

Desktop sites for the longest time favored complicated visual designs with massive amounts of content and many navigation options. These days streamlined, clean designs with plenty of white space are recommended for responsive sites. Not only to customers tend to appreciate the speed with which these simplified designs load but they the minimal design tends to give sites a modern look that sets them apart from older designs.  It is important that sites load quickly on mobile devices and simplifying design is one of the best ways to do this.

Responsive web sites should display a consistent look and feel across mobile, laptops and desktop computers.

You can no longer ignore responsive design. It is necessary for any business.

Photo: Serge Kij (Flikr) http://bit.ly/1JStB7F