Responsive Design Myths: The Things You Thought Were True

I love modern gadgets, and I enjoy using my iPhone and iPad to access the Internet just as much as I used to enjoy the PC and laptop experience. As I look around myself, I get an immense pleasure of finding the growing number of websites embracing responsive techniques. Why does it make me happy? Well, I’m a busy person and have to travel a lot. As a result, it becomes impossible for me to sit in front of my desktop computer every time. With responsive design, a website layout fits into the screen of my mobile devices perfectly, and makes it simple for me to check or send emails, scan through the daily news, and make random Google searches.

People who don’t completely understand a new practice, however, tend to believe in myths and misconceptions. They start counterpointing the practice, and think that things they know are true. Now that is a very shaky situation! After all, it’s better to know nothing at all than knowing what’s wrong. Thankfully, I do not fall into this category… and I’ve taken it upon myself to bust the most popular responsive design myths in existence today.

Myth 1: Responsive Design Is Always about Mobile

You are hugely mistaken if you believe that responsive design has the sole goal of making it easier to view websites on mobile devices. Yes it’s true that the major reason for going responsive is the increasing number of mobile Internet users. However, responsive design focuses on making a website layout fluid enough to fit into ANY screen size. The screen size can be lesser than an iPad or greater than a desktop computer. Responsive design aims only at the result and not the platform where a website will be viewed.

Myth 2: Responsive Design hinders Typography

With changes in website layouts according to different screen sizes, many people are of the opinion that going responsive will cause troubles to the typography. I personally don’t blame these guys who think down this line. And why should they be blamed when it’s the web designers who ignore design breakpoints and prioritize device breakpoints? Choosing device over design can highly hamper the readability of your content. You can use scalable units like ems for font size, layout, margins and padding. Once ems is in place, a website can easily adjust the typography with changing screen sizes.

Myth 3: Responsive Design sacrifices Performance

I won’t deny the fact that it’s pretty tough to add responsive techniques to websites that have large images and JavaScript libraries. Due to this problem, the performance of a responsive website takes heavy damage when viewed from a device with limited bandwidth. There are still debates going on, and no definite solution has been found about this issue. So if you haven’t created your website yet, then you must always design it with a mobile-first approach. And if you already have a website, try to find a solution that suits your demands to the best possible extent.

Myth 4: Responsive Design is Hiding Content

You shouldn’t even think about this statement at a time when “Content is the King”. And come to think of it, you actually don’t need a content in the first place if you need to hide it when shifting screens. Responsive design is never about hiding content, but about increasing the accessibility and readability of a website. Always remember that you are hiding a content based on your assumptions, and some readers might have found it extremely useful. So, think carefully what you want to do with the content in your website. My bet for you is to keep everything you have!

If you are planning to go responsive, then you should have a talk with a reputed web design company. They will make sure that your mind is clear of all prejudices. So don’t just believe in what you see or what you are told; look deeper to find the silver lining.