Responsive Web Design

Responsive web design is all about making your web presence look and behave well regardless of what device accesses it. Your customers may use iPhones, Android or windows phones, They may enjoy using iPads, or iPad mini, or Samsung tablets, they may even view your website on 27" widescreens. Responsive website design makes your website look and perform well regardless of the accessing device screen size.

Before responsive design, we had to create differing templates for each device supported and then implement programming rules to detect which device was connecting. As screen sizes and internet-enabled devices proliferated, this method quickly became cumbersome and expensive. Responsive design takes the approach that the website should respond to screen size, platform and screen orientation. The methods behind this consist of varying use of flexible design grids, flexible layout patterns, and intelligent use of CSS in stylesheets to detect screen size ranges, adjusting grid elements and images.

Worldwide, small screen device usage on the internet had been growing steadily. In more developed countries, with greater penetration of smartphones and more developed mobile data networks, traffic to websites via small screens have increased rapidly. You can check what percentage of your traffic is via mobile, desktop and tablet devices in your Google Analytics reports by navigating to Audience > Mobile > Overview. We have found it's not unusual to see around 50% of traffic now coming via small screen devices.

You can also check if your website is responsive to various screen sizes and orientations using this handy tool: http://responsivedesignchecker.com/sharkeyconsulting.ie or for a free assessment of your website complete the form below or call us for a free website responsiveness consultation.