The more popular mobile devices become, the more uncomfortable scrolling is felt on most sites. That is why, since 2012, webmasters have been using a solution that makes viewing resources on screens with a low resolution more comfortable - adaptive layout.
Modern trend
Today, about five billion people on Earth use mobile phones, with a third of them having smartphones. Therefore, mobile traffic is becoming increasingly important for website owners. It is likely that such a source of visitors will only grow over time. Search engines quickly responded to this trend. Large corporations "Yandex" and Google have made significant changes to their algorithms for ranking sites in search results, taking into account the availability of adaptive layout and design. Simply put, web resources optimized for mobile phones, smartphones and tablets will have some advantage over their competitors.
Responsive layout definition
Adaptive layout is a method of creating a web page frame,automatically changing the location of the blocks in accordance with the screen resolution of the device on which it is viewed. That is, with this approach, separate styles are created for a variety of resolutions. This effect is achieved by writing special CSS files.
Earlier, the problem was solved a little differently. Developers had to make much more “body movements”, creating the layout and design of the main version of the site and doing the same for the mobile one. Depending on the screen of the device on which the Internet project with the available mobile platform was viewed, the appropriate version of the site was launched.
This approach did not justify itself in many ways, and most webmasters never took up the creation of a mobile version. Now this order has been replaced by adaptive layout. By creating a site skeleton using this technology, the webmaster concentrates all his efforts on creating one version of the project, and visitors can view it with the same level of comfort both on a large computer screen and on a mobile phone, smartphone or tablet.
Advantages of Responsive Layout
What are the advantages of adaptive website layout? It was previously noted that the advantage is the correct display of all page blocks on any device. Also, a positive aspect of this approach in creating a template is the speed of implementation of changes. What does this mean?
If the site had two platforms, the changes made to the layout had to befirst implement in the working version, and then in the mobile version. If the changes in the code were quite significant, then the process of making such changes could take a long time. With adaptive layout, work on the site is carried out in one file. Changes made to the layout of the web page will be reflected equally soon in both production and mobile versions.
The disadvantage of this approach, some webmasters call the complexity of its implementation. But with the advent of CSS 3, creating a responsive layout template has become quite simple. Even inexperienced webmasters can make their site mobile-friendly.
Principles and features of adaptive layout
What principles underlie the responsive layout method in web design?
- Using the Fluid Layout Type.
- "Rubber" images.
- Using media queries (media-queries).
- The need to think about mobile devices from the very beginning of the layout.
From these fundamental principles of this method of creating a template, the following features of adaptive layout follow:
1. Designing and creating a website design taking into account work on the entire range of resolutions: from mobile to widescreen displays.
2. Layout with cascading style sheets using media query technology introduced in CSS 3.
3. Programming on the side of both the client and the server to send images to mobile devices of a smaller size and resolution.
An important aspect, taking into account which adaptive layout is created, isresolution matrix of popular electronic devices. This approach to design development will make web browsing on any screen very comfortable. But how do you know which ones to include in styles?
Where to start with responsive layout?
Most websites are made in such a way that scrollbars appear on the screens of smartphones and tablets, which are not so convenient for surfing, and the design and layout of many Internet projects simply “float”. Websites created for teaching web design contain a variety of screen resolutions of various devices, under which it is worth laying out the pages of your site.
Adaptive layout, examples of which can be found quite often, has a lot of advantages. What should be kept in mind when approaching page layout in this way?
When starting to work on a template, it is important to periodically test how well the content and layout blocks are displayed on different screens. To do this, sometimes it is enough just to change the width of the browser window. The style file receives the media query and repositions the blocks, making significant changes. A good tool for testing a responsive layout template can be sites that mimic the screens of mobile devices of different models. Such services will allow you to carefully consider and evaluate how the design looks on the displays of various mobile devices.
Although the technology of such a responsive layout is not so simple, mastering it will bear fruit very soon.
