Responsive web design for iPads
Quo Vadis the Desktop PC?
For the festive season of 2012 a startling and amazing statistic showed that 48% of American kids asked Father Christmas for an iPad. A further impressive fact is that 29% of adult Americans own an iPad or other hand held electronic reader device. This was a mere 2% less than three years ago. (Quo Vadis: Latin for – Where are you going?)
So where is the Desktop PC going? Most probably into the museum. Of course there will still be those people who use the Desktop computer as their tool for work who will need them. Architects, designers, musicians, film makers and more. But even here there could be changes on the horizon. After all the PC as we know it is experiencing a resolution.
But for the home PC owner the technology scene is shifting. And it is shifting very quickly.
Why the iPad?
What has started this huge shift? There will be many folk talking about the change and they will give umpteen very intelligent reasons. At a quick glance the main ones could be mobility and touch. It’s so much easier to pop the iPad into an over the shoulder bag.
Even the laptop computer still needed a special backpack to safely carry the machine. And at a couple of kg it was always going to be just slightly too heavy. Enter the iPad and you have a handy little computer that fits into a large bag and is lightweight on top of it.
Add to that the touch aspect of the gadget where your natural hand movements will move your applications around, open them, close them and use them at the swipe of fingers. Intuitive, natural, easy.
Of course as with everything else it takes two parties to dance together. The iPad became successful because developers went into overdrive mode to develop fabulous apps. Apps for games, apps to make your life easier, apps to shop with, apps to do your work with and just so much more. Whatever you can think of, there’s an App for it.
What does this mean for your website?
It means just one thing. Your website has to look as good on an iPad as it does on your computer. Your visitors could very well be using their iPad to visit your website to check your services and products. Can you afford to take a chance that your visitors will be ok with a not so great iPad styled website?
No you can’t hope that your users of your website are forgiving. They will click off your website immediately. They will look for another website where they can find the solution or service to their needs. One that is iPad friendly.
Your site needs responsive web design
Because the scary statistic is that 46% of visitors will not return to your website if they find it tablet or mobile unfriendly. Can you afford to loose almost half of your customers? Use responsive web design to make your website responsive. And that means it will work on all gadgets that your visitors could be using to come to your website.
When you see statistic as above you will realise that the world of the internet is changing as we speak. Of course the web has always been able to change shape and size. We designers have in the past controlled the shape by making only one size (with a few exceptions) fits all available to the users.
This is no longer possible. The freedom that users now have in using whatever gadget they wish to visit your website has impacted on what web designers are doing.
Get on board now. This message applies equally to web designers as it does to website owners. Responsive web design is here to stay.
