Responsive web design: Taking a hold of the future with a single website
Mobile computing is fast spreading with mobile computers spreading faster than any other consumer technology in history and even more so in Africa. Developing countries leapfrogged fixed land lines and rapidly adopted mobile telephony much as a result of the poor landline infrastructure. Making mobile phones affordable led to rapid adoption. In Ghana internet penetration is at 14% yet mobile penetration is at an impressive 85% and still going. 2010 statistics revealed Smartphone penetration was estimated at around 18% and has risen ever as they become more affordable.
Yet with all these statistics internet is still approached within a desktop/laptop context. The hard truth however is that most people aren’t on these devices or are fast moving away from them. The tel-cos are aware of this and ready to tap into this enormous wealth that mobility brings. Smartphone prices keep falling and will be dirt cheap soon. In India, China, and USA it is. Smartphones and tablets are fast outselling PCs.
Mobile Internet traffic is expected to outpace desktop internet traffic. Chances are as a business your clients wouldn’t be accessing your website on their desktops or laptops. They would be doing so via smartphones and tablets. In Ghana prices of smartphones are definitely going to fall allowing for faster adoption of these devices. Huawei, Samsung and Techno Phones are all wheeling their guns at the smart phone market.
The big question therefore is why does your website still look and feel like it’s only to be accessed via desktops or laptops. Don’t believe it’s so? Try launching your website right now from your smart device. Does it fit well on the screen? Do you have to constantly zoom in and out and scroll back and forth? Your lovely website looks a bit awkward on the device right? That’s because your website was built with a framework from antiquity. Until recently the only way out was to build for a single company multiple websites to be accessed from multiple platforms (devices). So that for example a company named “X” would have x.com, ipadx.com, x.com.mobi and m.x.com. This creates unforgiving problems as search engine issues and sub-optimal user experience.
Accessing a website built solely for traditional PCS with a smartphone or tablet gives a very bad user experience. Target clients would hardly revisit such sites. That’s a huge cost to your business. You wouldn’t want to be losing hard won clients like that.
Yet with all these statistics internet is still approached within a desktop/laptop context. The hard truth however is that most people aren’t on these devices or are fast moving away from them. The tel-cos are aware of this and ready to tap into this enormous wealth that mobility brings. Smartphone prices keep falling and will be dirt cheap soon. In India, China, and USA it is. Smartphones and tablets are fast outselling PCs.
Mobile Internet traffic is expected to outpace desktop internet traffic. Chances are as a business your clients wouldn’t be accessing your website on their desktops or laptops. They would be doing so via smartphones and tablets. In Ghana prices of smartphones are definitely going to fall allowing for faster adoption of these devices. Huawei, Samsung and Techno Phones are all wheeling their guns at the smart phone market.
The big question therefore is why does your website still look and feel like it’s only to be accessed via desktops or laptops. Don’t believe it’s so? Try launching your website right now from your smart device. Does it fit well on the screen? Do you have to constantly zoom in and out and scroll back and forth? Your lovely website looks a bit awkward on the device right? That’s because your website was built with a framework from antiquity. Until recently the only way out was to build for a single company multiple websites to be accessed from multiple platforms (devices). So that for example a company named “X” would have x.com, ipadx.com, x.com.mobi and m.x.com. This creates unforgiving problems as search engine issues and sub-optimal user experience.
Accessing a website built solely for traditional PCS with a smartphone or tablet gives a very bad user experience. Target clients would hardly revisit such sites. That’s a huge cost to your business. You wouldn’t want to be losing hard won clients like that.
SO WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
Great News! Websites can now be built with a technology that allows them to adopt by resizing to the type of device being used to access them. This technology is called responsive design technology. Responsive Web Design is the approach that suggests that design and development should respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on screen size, platform and orientation. As the user switches from desktop/laptop to smartpones or tablets the website should automatically switch to accommodate for resolution, image size and scripting abilities. The website should have the technology to automatically respond to the user’s preferences.BENEFITS OF RESPONSIVE DESIGN
As a business responsive design gives you a mobility solution. With responsive design your frontline staff and marketers have access to your data on smartphones.- Your employees can use their own devices to access company emails;
- Executives or information consumers may find it more effective to access executive dashboards or sales information using tablets rather than a cumbersome laptop.
- A sales team, field service agents or a particular business unit-might want to access certain applications on the go.
- Responsive design helps you achieve a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategy:
- Equipping key front-line field staff with mobilized applications on a smartphone or tablet to process enquiries, orders and resolve service issues more quickly and with a higher level of service will improve customer acquisition, satisfaction and retention;
- Providing executive and business decision makers with business intelligence on tablets will facilitate fast, effective business insight for quicker action and planning.
Get on-board and take a hold of the future now.
