Responsive Design: The Answer to Multi-Screen World

New devices and screen resolutions continue to flood the market. Creating a website version for each device is just not practical, let alone possible. So how do we keep up? Responsive design.

I must admit that I am a recent convert to responsive design. According to our team of designers and developers, we’re quickly getting to the point of being unable to keep up with the presence of new screen resolutions and devices. Responsive design is the cure-all for this multi-screen world and it guarantees users better experience on every screen.

The year 2013 was when responsive design took off. This 2014 is the year when it will be fully embraced. For dentists and surgeons, this is the smartest way to reach your current and potential patients who use multiple devices. With responsive design, users are guaranteed great experience on every screen.

To keep up with the presence of multiple devices and screen resolutions, web designers and developers came up with responsive design is o keep up with the presence of multiple devices and screen resolutions.

According to Ethan Marcotte, author of Responsive Web Design, "Now more than ever, we’re designing work meant to be viewed along a gradient of different experiences. Responsive web design offers us a way forward, finally allowing us to 'design for the ebb and flow of things.

What is responsive design?

Responsive web design generally means a design that responds to to a wide range of devices. It refers to website design that responds to changes in the screen size of the device the user is using. This approach utilizes different CSS style rules based on the screen dimension and orientation of the device viewing the site.

What is mobile website?

A mobile website is defined as a separate website that is only presented to mobile users. It is a site with similar content but separate from the standard website. Mobile websites generally have a different URL, i.e. mobile.brand.com or brand.mobi.

Responsive Design vs. Mobile Website

Rendering Experience

• Mobile Website: A mobile website is essentially a copy of your website, where the server does the work to deliver an optimized page that's smaller and easier to navigate. This solution can really customize unique experience for mobile users.
• Responsive Website: With responsive design, the website does the work and fluidity adjusts according to a device's screen size and orientation. It keeps the mobile users from pinching and zooming in to see the website content. This is the most flexible and intelligent solution.

Domain Protection

• Mobile Website: You must create a different domain. A lot of dental offices choose to differentiate theirs by “m.domain.com”. Can dilute domain and hurt organic search traffic. Additional management because you have to maintain two separate sets of content.
• Responsive Website: Responsive design lets you keep your own domain—nothing changes except the code on the back-end for different screen displays. Googles thinks this is the better solution. Read more here.

Link Equity

• Mobile Website: Because a mobile site uses a separate domain, links shared from mobile browsers will not count as search link equity toward your primary site. This can negatively impact your search ranking.
• Responsive Website: Since responsive design simply embeds new code on the back-end of your website, your company’s link equity is preserved. A healthier option for search.

SEO

• Mobile Website: A separate mobile website is essentially another website and if they have the duplicate content, your sites can get penalized. 
• Responsive Website: There is no content duplication because responsive websites use exactly the same content.

Analytics

• Mobile Website: Because they are two separate websites, you have to combine the results and analytics of the standard website and a mobile website.
• Responsive Website: With responsive website, the traffic sits on the same server.

Designed for the Future

• Mobile Website: Will involve redesigning your mobile site to stay current and updated. Will involve more maintenance and additional expense. 
• Responsive Website: Easier to adjust and accommodate next-generation devices and screen, with no overhaul required. A right investment and better value for your money.

A responsive web design is the best strategy for dental and medical websites because most require no more than 80 pages and generally are not complicated. There is no struggle with what information on the website to hide and what to combine for the mobile user.

We recommend a mobile website for medical facilities and institutions requiring complex navigation and custom functionality for full control over the mobile user experience. It’s imperative to give users the access to everything they might need.

We can help

From smartphones to tablets and desktops, potential patients are searching for dental practices from different devices with different screen resolutions. Your website needs to be fluid to automatically adapt to various screen sizes for better user experience. Our team of designers and developers will help create responsive dental and medical practice website that will connect with your visitors and potential patients regardless of the device they are using.

Victoria C.
Director for Design & Marketing at Solution21, Inc.