Canadian penetration of digital devices is on the rise. While this trend creates new and exciting opportunities for publishers and marketers to connect with consumers, it also introduces a high degree of complexity and new challenges to manage – as the number of devices, platforms, and browsers grow. Each device has a different aspect ratio (i.e. screen size) which means that there are thousands of different screens to be considered when producing content.
For some time, publishers and marketers were left with a choice. Develop different sized content for each and every device or limit the number of devices they target or build for to reduce the amount of work involved. But neither of these approaches are efficient or cost effective as the number of different devices and screen sizes keeps amplifying.
What publishers and marketers have long desired is the ability to create content just once – and then have it adapt to the variety of screens dynamically – whether it’s a laptop, tablet or smartphone. Fortunately, technology has evolved to address this exact problem and the solution is what we call “responsive design”.
What is Responsive Design?
Put simply, a responsive web design uses queries to determine the screen size of a given device and then dynamically adjusts all images and content to fit the screen. This creates an optimized user experience. Ever pull up a website on your smartphone only to find a super tiny rendering of the desktop website which is then horribly difficult to navigate? That is a telltale sign of a site that has not been built with responsive design. If a website is using responsive design, it will instead retract to fit on the smaller screen.
Furthermore, it is now possible to take responsive design and the consumer experience to an even higher level through something called “adaptive design”. This is an approach that detects the type of device and changes a site’s behavior and navigation accordingly, making it feel like the content is even more customized for the individual device. For example, enable swiping between columns on touchscreen devices.
Why is it important for publishers?
Most of the consumer device growth and increase in time spent with digital has been driven by smartphones, phablets, tablets and even ultrabooks – a much more portable (i.e. mobile) set of screens. So if you are not providing a mobile-friendly user experience, you are at significant risk of losing visitors as they increasingly migrate to competitors who have sites that are easier to navigate due to their responsive design.
In addition, having a single website that works seamlessly everywhere offers significant savings over creating multiple native mobile apps. It delivers a better user experience, easier SEO management and increased conversion rates.
Why is it important for marketers?
More than ever, marketers need to be buying cross-device to ensure that they do not miss out on reaching their entire audience as they shift attention across multiple screens. We know that consumption behaviours vary by device, so it’s all about reaching the right audience where and when they are consuming – but doing so with an optimized experience is the vital step that cannot be overlooked. It’s about looking smart and making it easy for your consumers to find content, giving it a customized feel, and allowing them to interact with it no matter which device they’ve chosen.
Responsive design is here to stay because it offers a significantly better user experience for both marketer and publisher audiences, all while driving better efficiency in the content development process. As consumers become more mobile enabled and as the number of platforms, devices and browsers continue to expand, the move to responsive design is a MUST and should be an integral part of any marketer or publisher’s approach.
