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What Is Responsive Design

For some time, most computers used an 800 × 600 or 1024 × 768 pixels resolution monitor. For the websites, the size of the screens did not represent much regarding the usability and navigation of their interfaces. But today we have not only a multitude of resolutions and proportions of computer screens, but also mobile devices such as Smart TVs, tablets and smartphones with different sizes and resolutions. And this variety has a big impact on the quality of the user experience.

In this context, a website is considered responsive when it can adjust the layout of its visual components, adapting to the screen resolution in which it is displayed – changing position, height, width and even the formatting of graphics – to ensure the best user experience when browsing your pages.

The adaptation of websites for smartphones and tablets is mainly thought in relation to ergonomics. As such, the texts and buttons, for example, adjust so that they are below each other, allowing for comfortable and intuitive touch navigation. These adjustments are based on the principle that scrolling these devices makes it easier to use scrolling vertically than horizontally. Menus also change, often turning into buttons positioned at the top (right or left) of the screen, so that they are close to the thumb’s natural position, facilitating interaction between the menu and the user.

 

Responsive Design and Search Engines

One of the main advantages of choosing responsive websites is related to the impact on search engines, especially after Google’s search algorithm, which will focus on those that are ready for mobile browsing. And to assist website developers and designers, Google has provided a tool to test the compatibility of any page with mobile devices, as well as a set of documents with various tips and concepts about responsive sites.

Google’s algorithm, called PageLayout, has the function of evaluating, by mathematical criteria, navigability within a site – how content is arranged and how easy it is to find certain information within a page or site such as one all. This change reinforces the company’s concern with user experience when interacting with websites.

For eCommerce, organic traffic – those users coming from unpaid search results – accounts for the largest share of visitors in most cases. Losing representation in search engines is therefore synonymous with lost sales. And in addition to better positioning in Google’s search ranking because of this algorithm change, having responsive eCommerce also helps to lower the site’s bounce rate, further increasing the chances of top ranking.

All of this is explained because, as the user browsing experience will be user-friendly, without having to zoom the page or having buttons too small to click with their fingers, visitors will likely stay longer on the site. And in fact, the more time visitors spend on your eCommerce website, the greater the chance of buying one of your products!

 

What are the advantages?

We can name several benefits of efficient responsive design, which are:

  • Adaptation of the page layout according to the resolution of the device used by the client;
  • Automatic resizing of images to fit the screen and not overload data transfer;
  • Simplification of screen elements for easy access to site links;
  • Hides unnecessary elements in smaller appliances;
  • Suitability of buttons and links for touch interfaces;
  • Use of mobile resources such as geolocation and change of device orientation, ie, horizontal or vertical.

 

Tips for making better use of responsive design

  • Be careful when wiping and rearranging content for lower resolutions: always keep relevant purchase information and highlighted options for the user to contact on screen;
  • Focus on efficiency and performance. Very heavy responsive sites can result in slow loading and consequently dropouts;
  • Perform tests before all changes;
  • Analyse user behaviour on the site;
  • Listen and respond to your customers;
  • Always improve yourself!

 

And remember, your website can be as beautiful as Da Vinci’s Monalisa, but is worth nothing if the usability does not attend users’ needs and does not convert into sales

 

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