Joomla eXtensions

Responsive Extensions - what is it anyway?

and ... why should I use something like this?

A legitimate question that we want to answer in this article.

More and more people do not only surf via their desktop computer (with big screens and high resolutions), but also want (or need) to surf mobile. The number of mobile surfing people will increase even more strongly in the near future, so you should be prepared for this development. Now manufacturers of mobile phones want to provide their customers with hi-res displays for mobile devices / smartphones, but on the other hand, a mobile phone shouldn't get too big which makes the smartphone unwieldy. Conventional websites are mostly optimized for desktop resolution and thus too big for the small screen of a mobile device. Of course you can zoom in on the smartphone screen shot, but get lost in it.

And this is where the so-called responsive web design comes in:

Imagine, your website would automatically adjust and arrange itself in a manner that you can view the website optimally on any device, no matter if small or large. This requires two basic conditions:

  • a responsive Template
  • and responsive Content

Now why does a website need responsive Content?
It's simple: Just imagine, design and appearance of your site automatically adapts to the terminal but not your content. Then your site might indeed be shown on small screens, the content could be beyond the design or (even worse) just disappear in the background and become invisible.

There are basically three different approaches to responsiveness:

  • specific additional sites for mobile devices
  • a simple reduction of the page (fluid design)
  • or automatic adjustment (responsiveness)

Specific additional mobile sites are nowadays hardly offered by publishers, because it means additional costs and additional maintenance and support costs for the website. Therefore, many website owners do not offer additional (expensive) mobile sites, especially as these sites are usually not visually appealing.

A simple reduction of the side looks at first glance as if it would adapt to the different resolutions - here was not, however, paid attention to usability, ie on small screens (like mobile devices), the individual elements of the page are too small and thus illegible.

In a real responsive website, the content doesn't just get smaller, but it adapts to the device. On desktop computers, the content is being displayed in full resolution, on small devices, the navigation menu could be a drop down menu, or modules that are normally being displayed on the right side might then be below the content. This allows to display the important content to be displayed larger and thus more legible.

Now if your website is more legible, your visitors will be more satisfied since they get the information they need much faster. Satisfied visitors can become satisfied customers (if you have a shop), or become followers which recommend your site on social networks like facebook, twitter or google+ . As you can see, responsive webdesign does not only bring added value to visitor, but also to the website operator, so its a good investition which pays fully.

Responsive extensions add optimized content to your site, which make them optimal and indispensable supplements.

Responsive extensions by eXtro.media

You will find all our responsive extensionsin our shop, so please have a look on it.