Deciding how your Phoenix web design company will design your company’s website is crucial for your business. It decides how effective you will be after all of those hours and marketing dollars that you invested in your local Phoenix SEO campaign get people to visit.
One huge question you need to answer when getting your website built or redesigned is whether you want a responsive or an adaptive design. Let’s take a look at what they are and the key differences between the two so that you can make the best choice.
What is adaptive web design?
Adaptive web design should not be mistaken for the traditional mobile and desktop version web design. It involves predetermined website presentations that change based on the device being used. The adaptive web design system identifies the device based on the server or client-side code. The information that is displayed varies from device to device. Each presentation has a unique template that must be edited separately.
What is responsive web design?
Responsive web design revolves around unification. Instead of creating a mobile version, desktop version, etc of your website, a responsive website design involves a single version of your website that is capable of (ironically) adapting to any device. This adaptation is supposed to fluidly occur regardless of the platform, web browser or screen size of the device being used.
What are the pros of adaptive design?
Easy to implement
Adaptive web design can be implemented by your Phoenix web design company on a pre-existing site, so there is not a lot of difficulty when transitioning to it.
Optimizes performance for all devices
Because it requires your website to be designed multiple devices that people will be viewing your site on, it will be perfectly optimized therein. As such, load times and interfaces will be fast and intuitive.
What are the cons of adaptive design?
Requires advanced coding knowledge
With adaptive web design, your Phoenix web design company will have to take the reins throughout the design process. This is due to the fact that implementing it requires an advanced knowledge of the coding languages Java and CSS.
UX changes from device to device
Because the interface is designed for individual devices, the user experience will be inherently different, much to the chagrin of users who are expecting to find the same layout and features across all devices.
Doesn’t account for all devices
The breadth of available internet-ready devices grows every day; because adaptive design only focuses on optimizing for current ones, your Phoenix web design company will have to constantly be on the lookout for reasons to update your web design.
What are the pros of responsive design?
Keeps the UX consistent
With responsive web design, you never have to worry about consistency, because your website will look the same on all devices. This makes it much easier for users to transition from one device to the next.
Easier for building a new site from the ground up
Since it doesn’t require the depth of coding knowledge that is required by adaptive design, responsive design is much easier for those who are building a site from the ground up, especially if you’d like to reduce the workload of your Phoenix web design company to save some money.
What are the cons of responsive design?
Load times are slower
Since you are getting a full-featured website, load times will be inherently slower on some devices with a responsive web design. This isn’t to say that it delivers a clunky experience; it just doesn’t compare to the speeds of an adaptive web design.
Requires one to build a site from the ground up
While it is easier to build from the ground up with responsive web design, it also requires it. Your Phoenix web design company will have to virtually scrap your current website if you would like to switch to responsive.
Verdict: It is clear that both of these web design strategies will be a part of the future of web design for quite some time. However, as internet technology continues to improve, the responsive web design’s weaknesses will begin to be masked by adoption rates and the sheer speeds of internet connections and devices.