Is Responsive Web Design the best solution for Social Media Marketing?
The debate is on. There’s been a lot of hype about Responsive
Web Design - RWD. With the emergence of multiple media devices creating
techniques of flexible web design that is liquid, elastic and scalable is vital
for today’s Social Media Marketing.
There is definitely a need for RWD. Whether it’s the best
solution depends on what you are trying to achieve at what cost. Is it worth
the time and effort?
With RWD, elastic layouts put a maximum and minimum width to
create a dynamic look. Understanding of how all elements interact with each
component, content, visual elements including CSS media Queries are important
in the creative and marketing strategy.
For instance in sites that reconfigure from Web (1680 x 1050)
to a tablet (1024 x768) to a Smartphone (320 x 480), there is a need for
responsive web design that sets parameters for designers to follow. It’s
important that the designer build items that are sustainable.
RWD relies on CSS media queries for media device
compatibility. Unfortunately, most mobile devices aren’t compatible with CSS
media queries and some don’t support scripting or plug-ins.
It becomes problematic to create one design that adapts to
every emerging media device. There are compatibility issues, image size
consideration, and memory limitations, processing time and network adaptation
problems.
There are a lot of considerations in this process including
more code and continuous updates. Mobile internet-speed is slower than desktop
speed.
From a clients’ perspective, it is important to note there is
a cost and time issue to resolve compatibility issues. It takes more time to
create multiple designs for the content and it requires an App interface to
Social Media Sites.
Clients should understand that there’s a greater emphasis on
amount of content and the way it’s presented in RWD. What works for desktop web
design may not work the same for mobile devices. In the mobile sense, more is
less and less is more, more or less.
An argument can be made to eliminate unforeseen problems by
designing separately for mobile and desktop. Perhaps this should be a
consideration of the RWD.
Yes, there is a need to set known variables to present
information in a logical manner that makes sense to the end user. As CSS helps
manage document content from presentation and accessibility, the future will
provide a new vehicle with rules that manage and regulate how competing
manufacturers design their media devices.
Is RWD the best solution for Social Media Marketing? It’s the
best way to understand the medium and content in various configurations.
Hopefully, it will provide guidelines and help define how people connect with
information.
In the end, the value-added of RWD is the end-user
experience.
