Understanding the Difference between Responsive, Adaptive and Mobile-First Design

It is essential for the web designing companies and web designers to have fully knowledge about the terms Mobile-First, Adaptive and Responsive Design so that they can determine any strategy for their website designing. In this advanced and technological era millions of the Google searches are carried out on mobile devices every hour globally.

The use of mobile devices is growing rapidly in all industries including manufacturing, construction and travel industry etc. A large number of travelers start their online searches on a mobile device. Now mobile devices have become the main source of website’s traffic.

What the term “responsive design” means?

The responsive web design is a technique in which a website’s design is adjusted automatically according to the size of users’ screens. The users can easily browse one website on all devices e.g. on mobile, tablet, desktop etc.

The content, design, user interface and layout of the website will change based on the width of a browser on a device. You have not to create two versions of a website one for mobile devices and other for desktop computers. You can determine either website is responsive or not by manually zooming in and out of the browser window.

What the term “an adaptive website” means?

An adaptive website adapt to specific screen widths of smartphones, desktop computers, and tablets. Devices all have set browser widths that are widely known and enable developers to develop websites that will adhere to their specifications.

It takes time to make an entirely responsive website because it must optimally adapt to the width of every browser. Sometimes the terms “responsive” and “adaptive” are confusingly interchanged. Developers create websites that are both responsive and adaptive. However, many websites may seem responsive but are not; they may actually be a blend of both techniques.

What the term “mobile-first design” means?

Mobile-first is the design strategy while responsive is the result of a technical approach. The mobile-first concept mean that the mobile version of a website should be at the heart of the design strategy and consider the user browsing behavior and constraints on mobile devices. 

A mobile-first strategy can be challenging for web designers who are used to designing for browsing on computers because this technique is quite different from a desktop development approach. The content of website must be analyzed carefully and prearranged depending on importance and make sure that the overall design remains refined. Further content can then be added for visitors who browse on larger screens.

Initially visitors will not be able to decide either the website is a responsive, adaptive or mobile-first website. According to visitors point of view the important thing about a website, is ability to quickly and easily provide the information they need and perform the actions they have set out to do.