RWD: The Revolution of the Smart World

One of the hot topics for website design is responsive web design. There’s been some buzz about it ever since the explosion of the smart phone, tablet, and other “smart” technologies. But what does it mean for a website to be responsive?

You know how sometimes you pull up a website on your smart phone and the picture looks distorted? Well, that website isn’t responsive. The goal of RWD is to make websites viewable from different windows of technology. Whether you have a tablet, an iPhone, or a laptop, a responsive website will appear equally clear on all mediums. These days, a lot of web designers recognize the importance of RWD, but it’s still a pretty advanced technology. In 2012, more website design companies will be investing time in responsive sites to increase the viewing population of their clients’ websites. At CODANK web design, we work with our clients to ensure their designs are responsive to a variety of forms of technology.

There are three important things to consider when dealing with RWD: flexible grid, responsive images, and media queries.

Flexible grids make the template of your website moldable on different technologies. You can download flexible grids, or make them yourself from scratch. There are also several types of tools to help you sketch out your templates. First, there are sketch sheets and sketchbooks, which allow you to see what the template will look like before your website goes live. You can keep the designs just like a real sketchbook. Responsive wireframes and multi device layouts also help you see what your template will look like before you proceed with other steps in your responsive web design.

Once you’ve laid out the template in a sketchbook, you can proceed with a template. There are lots of tools out there for making flexible grids.

Next you have to consider responsive images. You don’t wait your images to be distorted when viewers see your website on their smart phone or iPad. There are tools to help convert images on your website as they move from the computer screen to the smart phone. Responsive images are adaptable no matter what the viewing device.

Lastly, media queries help shift your web pages’ elements to make them responsive and adaptable.

Read these articles for suggestions on the specific tools that are out there to help you with responsive web design. As technologies become more advanced, and screens become smaller and more portable, responsive web design is going to become essential in the world of web design. Getting Started with Responsive Web Design: 50 Fantastic Tools for Responsive Web Design: