Introduction

How to create a Responsive Website

Set Appropriate Responsive Breakpoints.

Step-1

In responsive design, a breakpoint is the “point” at which a website’s content and design will adapt in a certain way in order to provide the best possible user experience.

Every website is accessed via devices with different screen sizes and resolutions. The software has to render perfectly across each screen size. Content or images cannot be distorted, cut out, or obscured.

To allow this, developers have to use responsive breakpoints,  sometimes called CSS breakpoints or media query breakpoints. These are points defined in the code. Website content responds to these points and adjusts itself to the screen size to display the accurate layout.

Step-2

 Start with a Fluid Grid

Previously, websites were based on pixel measurements. Now, however, they are built on what is called a fluid grid.

Basically, a fluid grid positions and sets web elements on a site in proportion to the screen size it is displayed on. Instead of making things in a single, specific size set in pixels, elements on a fluid grid will respond and resize to fit the size of the screen.

A fluid grid is divided into columns; heights and widths are scaled, not set to fixed dimensions. The proportions of text and elements depend on the screen size.

• Formulating the rules of a fluid grid is done by working on the website’s source code

A fluid grid also helps with keeping a site visually consistent across multiple devices. It also offers closer control over alignments and enables faster design-related decision-making.

Step-3

Take touchscreens into consideration

When wondering how to make a website responsive,think of touchscreens. Most mobile devices (phones and tablets) are now equipped with touchscreens. Some laptops are also catching up, offering touchscreen along with the keyboard functions.

Naturally, a responsive website will have to calibrate itself for being accessed via touchscreens. For example, let’s say there is a drop-down menu on the homepage.

• On desktop view, each menu item must be large enough so that it can be pressed with a fingertip of a touchscreen.
• On mobile screens, smaller elements like buttons should also be easier to detect and select.

To do so, use images, CTAs or optimize these elements to render properly on multiple screens.

Step-4

Responsive Image

Use modern image tag attributes to make images responsive to multiple device and screen resolutions. Study the example below.

• Setting max-width allows the image to adjust its size based on its container width.
• picture, source, and img tags are combined so that only one image is rendered, and that it fits best on the user’s device.
• source is used to reference a WebP image that can be used by browsers supporting it. A second source tag references a PNG file of the same image for browsers without WebP support. WebP is an image format with advanced compression for web-based images.
• srcset notifies the browser about which image should be displayed, depending on the particular device’s screen resolution.
• loading=”lazy” attribute / value pair: Implements native lazy loading.

Step-5

 Define Typography

Generally, web developers define font sizes with pixels. These work on static websites, but responsive websites need a responsive font. Font size must change with respect to parent container width. This is necessary to make typography adjust to screen size and be easily readable on multiple devices.

In the CSS3 specification, look for the unit named rems. It is similar to the em unit but acts relative to the HTML element. Because of this, the code must reset the HTML font-size.

Step-6

     Use a pre-designed theme or layout to save time

If developers and designers are wondering how to build a responsive website on an exceptionally tight deadline, they can opt for using a theme or pre-designed layout with built-in responsive properties. Word press provides multiple options in this regard (both free and paid). All designers have to do, after picking a theme, is to decide on colour, branding, and text.

Step-7

When researching how to make a website mobile responsive, something that often gets overlooked is the necessity of testing on real devices. Developers can tweak the code all they want, but its functionality has to be verified in real user condition.