In a world where people depend more on their mobile phones to access data than laptops or desktops, responsive design has come to stay. However, many web designers find it difficult to implement responsive web design correctly. Let us examine some of the common responsive web design mistakes and how these mistakes can be avoided.
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1. Too many images
If your responsive website consists of too many images and videos these may take time to load and could also cause your website to crash. You need to design a smoother UX and remove unnecessary media while ensuring that the search engines do not degrade your website ranking while indexing them.
2. Failing to understand the buyer persona
It can also happen that you may fail to understand your buyer persona while designing your responsive website. Learning more about your end users can ensure that you stop designing websites that have generic looks and monotonous design.
3. Ignoring the importance of touch functionality
Sometimes, it happens that you may design a website that does not accommodate well for gestures such as touch functionality. Care should also be taken that interfacing errors are avoided and CTA buttons are adequately sized.
4. Overlooking the importance of A/B testing
Avoiding A/B testing is yet another mistake committed by designers these days. What may be good for one device may not hold good for another. Before your website goes live, test it on various devices so that general UX issues and other complex problems can be sorted out before the site goes live. Running short on time and having no budget for user testing are just excuses.
5. Linking to mobile agnostic websites
Some web designers end up linking their responsive websites to non-mobile friendly websites. These mobile device agnostic links are not responsive and can damage your user experience.
6. Mistaken assumptions
Some web designers also assume that if their website works well on the desktop, it may work well on a mobile website as well. However, a desktop website may have a beautiful and clean UX while its mobile version may be a complete mess. So, unless you are very sure that what design looks good for a mobile website, you should not get attached to your design until you perfectly test it.
7. Hiding content in layouts
Yet another mistake in responsive web design is that some designers tend to hide content while designing layouts for mobile devices. This only makes websites slower. A clean layout is necessary if you are designing for mobile devices. Omit unnecessary content and build a clean layout, which will make your website load even faster.
8. Not going for consistent navigation
Many designers still do not go for consistent navigation across different layouts when it comes to responsive websites. Different screens and devices actually need different types of navigation. Hence, it should be ensured that consistency is maintained throughout. Ensure consistency in links and button labels and such for consistent look and feel.
9. Not using clear copy
Many responsive website designers still do not understand the necessity of clear and easy to read copy. It should neither be too big or too small. Sizing mistakes ensure that the website can become a caricature of itself to due to erroneous sizing and other related mistakes. In case you are designing a high-profile project such as an ecommerce website, this mistake can render it into a complete joke.
Closing thoughts
Responsive design is a great promise delivered in the world of mobile design. However, even a small mistake can cause things to go awry and destroy the beauty of responsive web design. It is essential that a meticulous thought process is implemented when it comes to responsive design. An astute and methodical planning process can vastly improve the way responsive web design is not only done but done rightly. Good Luck!