Getting started with responsive design

While some businesses have already jumped into responsive design and started redoing their web and mobile presence, other companies are still wondering what all the fuss is about. For those that haven't discovered that responsive design is an effective way to develop a sort of "one-size-fits-all" approach to web UI design, there are tips to help figure out if this new trend is right for them and how to get started with it.

According to Business 2 Community, these tips cover some best practices that will not only help a business jump into responsive design, but take advantage of the nuances of this practice in order to truly benefit from it.

Compatibility
The first thing to ensure before ignoring or embracing responsive design is that it is compatible with current systems. Having one website for all users, no matter what device they visit on, may seem like a nice idea, but it simply doesn't work for everyone. A business has to have a content management system (CMS) that supports this, plus an overall company information architecture (IA) that allows for various types of platforms. Not all mobile devices support Flash or Javascript, and as such the business needs to ensure its website doesn't rely on these tools. If the IA is supportive and the CMS design won't conflict with a responsive website, then the company is on the right track.

Show and tell
Knowing what to put into the site, and what to leave out, is also important. One reason different websites had to be developed for mobile devices in the first place was that smartphones couldn't deliver the same amount of content to users that a desktop browser could. And while mobile technology has greatly improved, screen size alone cuts down on the amount of information a viewer can receive at once. As such, it is vital that a business carefully considers what it includes in its web GUI design. Even with responsive design, too much information will overwhelm users on smartphones or tablets, while too little will make the site seem sparse or barren on a desktop.

In addition to being compatible and knowing how much information to include on each page of a website, it is also vital that a business remembers that it is creating a web portal to itself. According to the news source, the focus shouldn't reside solely on the screen size, resolution and capabilities of the device the site is viewed on, but also on the customer, or potential customer, doing the viewing.