Web design and development has undergone great many experiments and evolution since its inception. Now, we are about to witness the new-generation designing trend, “Responsive web design” which is compatible with desktop PCs as well as smart devices like i-phones, tablets, kindle, net books, blackberry's etc. Yes, mobile web is the next big thing for sure and the designer and developers have to experience all the odds and pressure involved in traditional web design and development for the new-age design technique too. Earlier, people were addicted to computers and internet technology but now its a passe'.All are using the pocket PC or the smart devices which provides all the functionality of a PC or laptop. The business site owners want their website to be available in such smart devices for increasing the reach and range.
What exactly is responsive web design?
Web offers limitless possibilities without bounds. The quest for a new dimension in web design and development has led to the emergence of responsive web design approach which automatically responds to the users actions by identifying the platforms or diverse environment through which they access a website. The responsive web design has to take in to account the screen resolution, width of the browser or orientation etc. Each of the smart gadget will be having different width and height for its screen and its impossible to design specifically for each make and model.
The web design engineers should be capable of undertaking the challenges of responsive web designing as more is going to happen in the domain of mobile web technology in the coming years. The concepts of responsive web can also be integrated in to desktop web development for providing the users with a unique and innovative browsing experience.
Main elements of responsive design
The responsive architecture has many highlights which should be given due priority during the design and development phase.
Fluid images
A high-quality image will be having high resolution and bandwidth making the site to load too slowly. In responsive design, the image should be re-sized proportionately. There can be pixel perfect images with big size and graphics which are embedded in a design. For optimum rendering of such images, responsive web design should use fluid images, a concept which makes use of CSS overflow property or scale the images with width and height attributes. It is also possible to set max-width to 100% as a quick fix but IE doesn't support it.
Flexible screen resolution
In responsive web design, everything is flexible. So, even the screen resolution can be made flexible. Most of the smart devices have different look, screen resolution, functionality etc. Using CSS, its possible to crop the background and foreground images.
Customized layout structure
The design layout should be customized and flexible to accommodate in to any browser, irrespective of the platform or the environment. This is possible by setting an optimum width parameter so that the a single layout will fit in all browser view ports.
Responsive containers
The layout frame in HTML can be made flexible by the use of media queries where the web designer can create multiple layouts using a single HTML document. The style sheet can specify parameters like orientation, screen resolution, colors etc
Thus, interactive or responsive web design can make a lasting impression in the domain of mobile web applications and also provides a fitting makeover for traditional web designing.
