What is a Responsive Website? Do I need a Responsive Website?

What is a Responsive Website? Do I need a Responsive Website?

Years ago having a website was optional. Today it’s a given.Customers are increasingly using their mobile devices including Android tablets, iPad’s, iPhone’s and other Smartphone’s to visit your website. They are more comfortable with the technology, it is convenient when they are on the go however this type of technology dem ands now more website features. Many of these web-enabled tablets and phones render the full website on their small screen. Users zoom in and out to read portions of the web page. While it’s an impressive solution from the manufacturers’ point of view, for the customers it can be a frustrating experience.

                               95% of all mobile phones sold in 2013 were web enabled*

They have to resize the site to read different sections, and can have a hard time using small buttons that are intended for interaction with a mouse rather than for a finger on a touchscreen. A responsive website changes its appearance and layout based on the size of the screen the website is displayed on. Responsive sites can be designed to make the text on the page larger and easier to read on smaller screens. They can also be configured to make the buttons on the phone’s screen easier to press. More sophisticated ways of using responsive design on a mobile device include: formatting the website to hide or present entirely different information, radically changing the graphics and colors, or even reducing the site to emphasize just its most important piece.

 If it has been more than 2 years since you refreshed your website,  it’s time to start thinking about an overhaul.

Content Management Systems like WordPress are much more robust than they were several years ago, and provide many new features for you and your users. A WordPress CMS can also empower you to make changes to the site’s content without extensive knowledge of HTML. In addition, some older features are becoming outdated. If your site uses Flash, many tablets and smartphones don’t currently support it, meaning that customers won’t be able to see your content.