Responsive design is something that is always up for discussion, it affects the design process from concept to creation. Designing sites to be responsive is a must, Google favours mobile-friendly design. The average user spend more time on responsive websites vs non- responsive. You would think that would lead to a majority of sites meeting the standard for adaptability to multiple screen and mobile friendly design. But shockingly, the 2014 State of the Mobile Web reported that only 15% of sites are fully responsive.
“36% of all Websites assessed are Responsive, about 60% of which are on dedicated mobile sub-domains, domains, or sub-folders. Only 147 Websites of the 1,000 are Responsive to their primary URLs i.e. “One Web”’ – State of the Mobile Web 2014
Responsive design is constantly evolving, not just because of ongoing changes in screen sizes and complexity in gestures, but also because there are some tested and proven methods to keep in mind. Adobe sums up Ethan Marcotte’s seminal article, which identifies the following approaches to responsive design to assist in creating great UX.
Best Practices for Responsive UX
- Design with content first avoid running into space constraints and awkward layouts
- Keeping data in mind helps you strategically design around what works on a site and remove what is not. Users analytics will help you make the right design choices.
- Start with the most constraining screen size and evolve from there. It will help define hierarchy and UX strategy.
- Designing for a wide variety of devices. Keep things like scale, touch target, and tabbing in mind at the beginning of your design concept.
Visit Adobe’s blog to read the details associated with each approach to keep in mind when designing a responsive site with excellent UX.
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