5 Insanely Effective Tips for Designing Responsive Websites

Web Design & Development

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A mobile responsive website refers to a website that can adapt its layout and design according to the user’s device. It fits the screen size and specifications of the particular device that the user is using. Regardless of whether the user is browsing on a smartphone, tablet, or desktop computer, the website can adjust its appearance. It helps to provide an optimal viewing experience.

The goal is to make it easier for people to access and navigate the website on different devices. There are many responsive website builder platforms that you can use to make a responsive website. 

Following is a list of the top five best tips that will help you design an effective responsive website.

1. Transition from Pixels and Inches to Grids

By using fluid grids instead of fixed-sized pixels, website designs can achieve liquid layouts. They expand and contract in response to changes in web page size. With fluid grids, website elements adjust their size proportionally according to the grid. But in the case with pixels, they remain limited to one specific size. 

This approach allows for greater flexibility in website design and ensures a more responsive layout for users on different devices. The use of a grid view is an effective way to divide a web page and to better organize elements. Flexible grids are a critical component of responsive design, but they can only go so far.

2. Use Media Queries and Breakpoints

Media queries are a powerful tool for optimizing website layouts across a range of screen widths. By detecting the specific device conditions, such as screen width, resolution, and orientation, media queries enable website content to adjust dynamically to each device.

3. Utilize a Viewport

The viewport is the visible area of a web page that the user sees. Additionally, its size varies depending on the device the user is using to view the website. To ensure that the website appears optimally, it is important to incorporate the viewport with a meta tag.

This provides the browser with instructions regarding the page’s scaling and dimensions, which can prevent users browsing on smaller screens from having to scroll horizontally or zoom out excessively to view the content. The use of meta tags can significantly enhance the user experience on smartphones and other mobile devices.

4. Make Sure Your Website is Touch Responsive

When designing web icons for handheld devices, it is important to ensure that they are large enough to provide comfortable touch targets. You should optimize a responsive website for both mouse clicks and finger taps, and designers should keep this in mind throughout the design process.

According to material design guidelines, buttons should be at least 36 dp high to ensure accessibility, which can greatly enhance the user experience for those accessing the website via mobile devices.

5. Make Sure the Media Elements Are Optimized for Mobile

To optimize images and videos for mobile devices, it is advisable to use the max-width property. By setting the max-width to 100% and height to auto, the image or video will scale down to fit the screen size it is being displayed on. This approach ensures that the content is displayed optimally, regardless of the device being used to access the website.