Advantages and Disadvantages of Responsive Web Design

Web design has been around for a while but things are changing now. The problem faced a decade or two ago was that there were not enough people using the computer and those who did use the computer may or may not have been using the Internet. What we take for granted today (computer with 24 hours of Internet access) was not quite a reality in those days. In addition to that now smart phones have been introduced and the number people having smart phones is on the rise. In fact according the recent statistics the mobile phone industry is growing at a faster pace than the computer industry. We all know what that means, there are more people with their own personal mobile surfing the Internet on their smart browsers then those using the computer to do the same. Web design has kept up with the pace and in fact there is some thing new called responsive web design. Responsive web design is a web design approach aimed at designing sites to provide an optimal browsing experience easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing , panning and scrolling across a wide range of devices from desktop computer monitors to mobile phones. In more simpler terms, responsive web design uses media queries to figure out the resolution of a device in question.

Advantages of Responsive Web Design

The web designers are breathing easier since the advent of responsive web design. It is almost like a boon for designers and web sites owners alike. The reason why will become quite evident as the article progresses. Considering the recent statistics it is now common knowledge that many people use their mobile phones to surf the Internet these days. Purchasing over the Internet use to be considered as very risky and there were few just a brave people who actually opted for online shopping over the Internet from a desktop computer. But things have changed drastically now. The people have no qualms about spending on the Internet from th safely of their very own desktop computer. But this have changed a tad further now with the introduction of smart phones and tablets. Now it is possible to access the Internet on the go where ever one is.  In fact studies show that the people find it the mobile a more handy device to surf the Internet on then a computer. Besides which no everyone owns a computer compared t o the fact that every third person posses a smart phone or a tablet computer.  With such changing trends the web sites designed by a designer that used to be optimized for a computer needs to be viewable on the hand held devices as well. A web site that worked splendidly on the desktop computer  was no longer sufficient for the web site owners because they also required it to be viewable on their mobile or a tablet and in fact on all mobile devices. Thus web designers shifted to responsive web design which is capable of providing all that and more.

Disadvantages of Responsive Web Design

Just as quickly as the web designers realized the potential of responsive web design the also had to come to terms with the disadvantages of using it too. It became harder to explain the process of web design to clients. Prior to responsive web design all stages of development were well defined however that was not the case with responsive web design. Besides that features that were taken for granted in the desktop computer’s web design were no longer easier to reproduce for a responsive web design since setting the features like navigation, tables and images in a responsive web design demands extra effort and creativity. The same site is used for all devices and thus it tends to load slightly slower and if there is one that frustrates the visitors most, it is a slow loading web site. There are several problems from the SEO perspective as well since such web sites generally do not use mobile specific keywords. In addition to which the features that one would commonly expect in a web site developed for a mobile device were absent from a web site using the responsive web design. For example a mobile device has many features exclusive to itself like two cameras; front and back, touch and multi-touch, GPS, etc and a web built specially for a mobile device ce is able to utilize these and other features thus resulting in a very robust web site, something which is not quite possible using the responsive web design.

Conclusion

At the end of the day it is impractical to make a different web site for each platform. Thus it is a trade off between compatibility and features. It really comes down to the specific requirements of the individual web site. Responsive web design has its advantages but there are a few disadvantages as well. Alakmalak.com is one such compan y that can provide you with the appropirate soultion.

Summary

With change in the way people surf the Internet it has become increasingly important to make web sites that also run mobile phones and tablets and in fact other hand held devices as well. Since there are many different devices available and making a different site for each device is not feasible to all the web designer have opted for a responsive web design whereby a common web site fits all. This has a great deal of disadvantages though since a mobile has a great many features which go used in such a design.

Source: http://makeyourideasart.com/design/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-responsive-web-design/