Responsive Web Designs Preceding Mobile Sites

Responsive Web Designs
Responsive web design is a way of a developing a website in which a web page of the website automatically resizes itself according to the display screen of the client device on which it is opened. For example if a responsive website is opened on a desktop PC or a laptop, contents of the web page are displayed normally as they are expected to be shown. Whereas if the same website is opened on a tablet PC or a mobile phone, the size of the contents of the responsive website are automatically adjusted (resized) to best fit on the screens of the mobile phone or The tablet PC.

Mobile Websites
A mobile website is a separate site altogether that is specifically developed to be displayed on the mobile phones or Tablet PCs. Since a mobile website is totally a different entity, its design and architecture is different and has easy-to-use interface, with clearly visible and accessible links to navigate through various portions of the website. A worldwide convention for a mobile website is that instead of starting with ‘www’, the URL of a mobile website starts with ‘m’. Although the use of this convention is not mandatory, most web developers follow this in order to make it easier for end users to differentiate between a normal and a mobile website.

Why to Have a Responsive Web Design Instead of a Separate Mobile Website?
There are several factors because of which business organizations might prefer a responsive web design over a separate mobile website. Some of the important points in this aspect are discussed below:

Interface – Even though many people nowadays use mobile phones or Tablet PCs to navigate through various websites, they still prefer to use laptop PCs or desktop computers in case they are a frequent visitor of any particular website. For example if a user plans to purchase any product online, it is quite unexpected that a mobile phone or Tablet PC will be used to pay for the purchased item. Since mobile website for the same online store would have a totally different interface, it might be hard for the user to understand and navigate through different pages of the site. Whereas, if it is a responsive website, since the user have been through it several times, the familiar interface would make it easier to browse through the different sections and pages. This would make the buyer feel more comfortable while paying for the purchased item as well.

Maintenance – If a website is responsive, the site owners would have to pay for the maintenance of only one website. Whereas if they go for a separate mobile site, the maintenance cost increases along with the increased developers’ overhead, as they have to maintain two websites in that case.

Updates – One of the main reasons why the site owners should prefer responsive web design is that in case they want to update any information on the website, while having responsive website, they are just required to update the contents of one website. On the other hand if there is a separate mobile website, changes must be made on both standard and mobile sites to make the information consistent.

Considering above points, it is advisable and recommended to have a responsive web design instead of having separate websites for desktop PCs and mobile phones/Tablet PCs.