Responsive web pages
Responsive Web pages are web pages designed to change their presentation and orientation depending on the type of device viewing the web page. This means you can have a single web page that displays differently on a smartphone, a tablet, and a desktop computer.
This presentation of page elements is designed to optimize the screen size of the device type displaying the website, while still maintaining the functionality of the website elements. This is accomplished by having a single underlying layer of HTML coding with sets of CSS that adjust based on the device's screen size or window size.
There are three specific breakpoints where the presentation changes:
- Smartphone: 320px
- Tablet: 768px
- Desktop: 1024px
This means that a website displayed on a window sized at 769 pixels will display in the layout of the full desktop site, where website displayed on a window sized at 767 pixels will show as the tablet optimized version.
Responsive web pages vs. mobile web pages
Mobile web pages and responsive web pages both aim to optimize the website user experience based on the type of device on which the website is viewed. The table below discusses the considerations for both mobile and responsive web pages:
| Consideration | Mobile Webpage | Responsive Webpage |
|---|---|---|
| URL | Mobile Web pages often use a separate site (usually a subdomain) that depends on HTML redirection to ensure users are routed to the correct website | Responsive Web pages all use the same URL, as it is all coded into the page |
| Rendering | Mobile Web pages are statically set to a certain, optimized mobile screen size | Responsive Web pages change the web page presentation and orientation on the fly |
| Content | As a Mobile Web page is a completely different website, you can tailor content specifically to mobile users | Content can be targeted to specific devices - Desktop, Tablet or Phone. This ensures content can be customized to fit the device size and format. |
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