Mobile Web Design

Web design has come a long way over the last 10 years. I can remember using Microsoft Expression Web or Adobe Dreamweaver to design websites and was very difficult considering every picture or text had to be put in it’s own cell and if you added anything extra in that cell, it would automatically re-size all the other cells throwing off your web design.

Then along came drag and drop web design like Serif Web Plus which didn’t require you to know much about HTML but wasn’t

mobile responsive. Bootstrap responsive design, which is open source CSS and Javascript framework, was introduced in 2011 and was developed by Twitter.

Flexibility of use — Since Bootstrap is easy to use, anybody with basic working knowledge of CSS and HTLM5 can development a responsive website with Bootstrap although it comes with predefined CSS and Javascript styles for those who don’t have knowledge of this.
Consistent design — All Bootstrap components share the same CSS, Javascript and styles through a standard library making the designs and layouts of your web pages consistent throughout your responsive design.
Compatibility with all browsers — Bootstrap is compatible with all modern browsers such as Safari, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Opera.
Save time — One can save plenty of time and efforts using Bootstrap design templates along with many free plugins that can be found on the internet.
Responsive features — Bootstrap responsive features allow your web pages to automatically adjust across all types of screens including cell phones, tablets, laptops and desktops.
Open Source — Last but not least, it’s free open source available for download from the internet.

The latest version of Bootstrap is version 3 and I’ve been using it for over 5 months and has exceeded my expectations for responsive design. Some of the nice features are lightboxes, image carousels, modals, forms, animations, hover menu dropdowns. etc. which can be implemented by free available plugins. There are many free Bootstrap templates available on the internet which you can modify to suit your needs or design from scratch if your familiar with HTML5.

One important thing to mention is Google now requires all websites to be mobile responsive as of April 21, 2015 or get penalized on mobile searches. I think this is because approximately 50% of all world wide internet traffic is now done on mobile devices and growing yearly.