Responsive vs Adaptive Web Design
With the evolutionary changes the industry has been experiencing in
the last decade, web developers are always kept on edge, trying to
predict the next trend which will take the industry by storm!
While
once PCs were the center of everyone's universe, a new trend has
emerged which has shifted the focus of all to consider this era - the
starting of a post-PC world. Yes, we're referring to the paradigm shift
that the advent of smartphones has triggered.
Now, web developers
have to design projects which can accommodate the required
specifications of smartphones, using a web approach which supports both
PC and mobile phone users. This kind of web approach is referred to as
the one-web approach, which ensures that the same information and
details are made available to users who access the web, with any device.
The need is to incorporate a web approach which is supported by a
number of devices, offering the same knowledge to all.
To create a
web approach which is compatible across a wide variety of devices,
there are two major options that a web developer may consider -
responsive, and adaptive web design.
Responsive web design
It is a common web approach which can be used across a variety of devices. Web developers use the CSS media queries to modify the overall presentation of different websites, on the basis of the display size of the target device.
One
major benefit of using this approach is that a single template can be
used to design a variety of websites for different devices. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are used to determine how the information is displayed on different device screen sizes.
If
a company wants a responsive website, then the entire site would need
to be built again. Moreover, web developers find it hard to customize
the display and test it for the different display size options. This
approach works best when you decide to go for a mobile first priority
approach, that is, go for a website which is designed, keeping the
mobile display features in mind, and is then later modified for laptop
use through progressive enhancement.
Adaptive design
This approach builds displays for specific devices and certain
contexts, while utilizing JavaScript software technology to deliver a
great user experience.
The JavaScript technology ensures
customization and added functionality features for the website content
displayed on a particular device. There are two types of adaptive web
design approaches:
Server side
A
customized user agent detection method along with server side system
plugins is used to implement the server side approach to a device. This
adaptive approach offers different and distinct templates for each
device. This ensures easy customization and also keeps the significantly
important device detection logic, available on the server. This lets
the much smaller mobile phone web pages to run much faster.
But
this approach tests web developers to their potential, as it requires
major changes to the back end systems, which can present a lengthy and
costly assignment. This approach also suffers from errors in performance
when the servers are subjected to a heavy load.
Client side
This
approach doesn't require web developers to build everything from
scratch; they are able to build on the available content. While working
on trying to deliver an effective mobile responsive layout, web
developers can still keep on working on the content in the meantime.
This
approach makes sure that only those sources are properly loaded which
are required by the client's device. Web developers who want to work on
the client side adaptive approach need to have a sound understanding and
knowledge of JavaScript, in order to use this particular technique.
Since
this approach is developed on the existing content of a site and the
formerly used code base, it is very important to maintain all those
details as the website evolves while being developed with a different
web approach.
Every web approach style has its own pros and
setbacks. It is up to the web developer to choose the best approach
which compliments their project requirements and is suitable for their
prospective audience.
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