Want to know how to get the most out of your responsive web design? In our second extract from his ebook Responsive design: how to weave content into an adaptive framework, we look at author and content strategist Danny Chadburn’s 10 takeaways for making your website look great across devices.
1. Deconstruct your content
Break it up into digestible chunks and prioritise each element to act in an optimised fashion within a responsive framework. (Read more about this in our previous post: How responsive design is changing the way content producers work.)
2. Make friends with developers
Discuss what features and functionality you may need in order to allow what you create to make logical sense whenever and however it is viewed.
3. Test with accessibility tools
Ensure your content flows as it should by running it through text-to-speech software and listening to how your message comes across.
4. Put experience on the map
Use your site map to segment your content types and responsively determine the most suitable menu elements and page templates based on the most likely user activity.
5. Review your partners
Audit any feeds and embedded content from third-party partners and affiliates to see if they sit seamlessly within your responsive design.
6. Make the next click count
The links that you include in your site are there to be clicked on so make sure that you are sending your users to pages that are suitable for the device that they are on.
7. Put things in the picture
Work closely with your dev and design teams to create a uniform format that dictates how images, graphics and diagrams display. Think about sensible scaling and text overlaying images.
8. Use what’s already out there
Whatever type of content you’re producing, there’s probably an API already out there that will make it more usable within your responsive structure.
9. Streamline your forms
Mobile users aren’t the only ones who are put off when faced with a lengthy form to fill in. Take away any unnecessary fields, and don’t add them back in for larger displays.
10. Know the sharing situation
The default Twitter and Facebook buttons might not always be the right option, so analyse by device how your users share, and replace the icons they see to offer them a single click solution.
Read the ebook
You can download and read the full ebook on responsive design by Danny Chadburn here. The book explains responsive design in a simple, accessible way for digital communications professionals.
You can also read a sample chapter in our recent post: How responsive design is changing the way content producers work.
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