Today, many people use smartphones and tablet devices to browse websites. Therefore, when creating a website, it has become important to create a responsive website that is compatible with smartphones and tablet devices.
In this article, we will provide an easy-to-understand overview of responsive development for beginners, as well as a detailed explanation of what to look for when actually creating a responsive website. By creating a responsive website, not only will it be viewed by a large number of users, but it will also increase search engine ratings. Please refer to this article and try your hand at creating a responsive website.
What is Responsive Development?
Responsive design is a technique that automatically optimizes digital content, such as websites and applications, according to the screen size and resolution of the device. Even when users view content from different devices, such as PCs, tablets, and smartphones, it can provide the best display for the screen size.
For example, when browsing from a smartphone, information may appear narrower or text may be difficult to read due to the smaller screen size. However, by adopting responsive design, the layout, font size, and image display method can be adjusted to match the screen size to provide an optimal viewing environment.
Responsive design not only improves user convenience, but also helps with SEO (search engine optimization): Google gives priority to websites with responsive design in its search results, which benefits both users and content creators. This is a win-win situation for both users and content creators.
Demand for Responsive Development
The demand for responsive development is growing. Users are accessing websites and applications from a variety of devices. In addition, with the proliferation of smartphones, more and more people are using websites and applications from their smartphones.
Website and application developers need to ensure that their content is served in the best possible way, regardless of what device the user is using. This is why there is a growing demand for responsive development.
In addition, search engines such as Google give priority to websites with responsive design in their search results, so from an SEO (search engine optimization) perspective, responsive design is now required when developing websites and applications. In terms of SEO (search engine optimization), responsive design is becoming more and more important when developing websites and applications.
In today’s market, the demand for responsive development is very high.
Design example (PC and smartphone display)
Responsive website design generally employs layouts optimized for different devices. For example, for PCs, a layout can be adopted for large screens. For smartphones, on the other hand, the design should be designed so that the screen is vertical. Below are examples of PC and smartphone displays.
PC display
<img src=”https://example.com/images/pc-layout.png”>
Smartphone display
<img src=”https://example.com/images/smartphone-layout.png “>
Advantages of Responsive Development
Responsive development offers the following advantages
- 1. Improved usability
Responsive design allows websites and applications to be optimized for the screen size of the device on which they are viewed. This allows users to use websites and applications that are easy to browse and use. - 2. Centralization of Content
Responsive design allows websites and applications to be compatible with multiple devices. This allows developers to centralize content and eliminate the need to manage multiple versions. - 3. Simplified maintenance
By eliminating the need to manage multiple versions, developers can reduce the burden of maintenance. Also, when a website or application needs to be updated, only one version needs to be updated. - 4. Improved SEO (search engine optimization)
Responsive design allows a website or application to be compatible with multiple devices. This makes it easier for search engines such as Google to evaluate a website that supports multiple devices with a single URL. This can be expected to improve SEO.
Disadvantages of Responsive Development
Creating a responsive website has the following disadvantages
- 1. Development costs are high.
Responsive design requires a lot of time and effort to make a website or application compatible with multiple devices. In addition, developers and specialized tools may be required for responsive design. As a result, development costs may be high. - 2. Decreased display speed
When responsive design is adopted, the number of images and contents may increase because a single website or application can be used on multiple devices. As a result, display speed may decrease. - 3. Customization per device is limited.
Because responsive design uses a single design to accommodate multiple devices, it may be difficult to achieve optimal display methods and functions for each device. - 4. Compression of images and content is required.
When responsive design is used, the size of images and content must be compressed in order for the website or application to accommodate multiple devices. As a result, image quality and content accuracy may decrease. - 5. Prioritization of content needs to be considered.
In responsive design, it is important to display content based on priority in order to make the website or application design compatible with multiple devices.
For example, on a small smartphone screen, it is important that the main content be displayed at the top, whereas on a desktop screen, advertisements and navigation are typically displayed at the top. Therefore, prioritizing the content of a website or application can improve the user experience.
Responsive Development Price List
Developing a responsive website requires a variety of tasks from design to development. Therefore, fee rates vary widely depending on the size and functionality of the website. A small-scale website can be created for around 100,000 yen, while a large-scale website can cost more than 1 million yen.
How to do Responsive Development
To create a responsive website, the following steps are required
Describe meta viewport tags in HTML
By using the meta viewport tag, a website can be displayed according to the screen size of the device. The following is an example of a meta viewport tag.
Writing media queries in CSS files
By using media queries, you can set the style of your website to match the screen size of the device.
Below is an example of a media query.
Check if the display switches
After creating a responsive website, actually check the display on various devices. In particular, it is important to check that the website displays correctly on smartphones.
Points to keep in mind when developing a responsive website
When creating a responsive website, the following precautions should be considered
Create from a page for smartphones
When creating a responsive website, it is recommended to start with a page for smartphones. The reason for this is that by creating pages for smartphones, unnecessary elements can be removed, as is the case with pages for PCs. Due to the small screen size of smartphones, unnecessary elements may increase the amount of scrolling, resulting in poor usability.
Check the device usage rate with access analysis.
When creating a responsive website, it is important to conduct access analysis to check the percentage of devices used by visitors. In particular, if a high percentage of visitors are using smartphones, it is necessary to focus on designing for smartphones.
Try your hand at creating a responsive website!
Creating responsive websites has become a must in modern web development. More and more people are viewing websites on their smartphones and tablets, and this trend is expected to accelerate in the future.
This article provides a detailed overview of responsive development, how to actually create a responsive website, and points to keep in mind. By creating a responsive website, not only will it be viewed by a large number of users, but it will also be rated higher by search engines. If you are planning to create a website in the future, please refer to this article and try to create a responsive website.
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