Since the beginning of time, philosophers and deep thinkers have all sought the answers to the universe, and all of their ponderings can be summed up in one question. The answer to this question changes everything in a person’s life and how they approach the world. The question - What is the point of the internet? If you look beyond your mother’s posting pictures of sunrises with misattributed quotes from CS Lewis and words of wisdom from Grumpy Cat, there is one true answer. As Plato, one of the world’s greatest philosophers said, “The point of going online is to find what you are looking for.” In the pursuit of fulfilling this most basic of human desires, marketing departments have created such things as “Web 2.0”, “SEO” and “Responsive Design.” Like most philosophies, those basic ideas have only worked for the sites that were looking to answer the basic question of life – what is the user trying to find?
Respond to the User
Like “Web 2.0” of the late 2000’s, Responsive design has its heart in the right place. It wants to do the right thing, but so many times it ends up being the trophy wife of the design department and misses out on its true potential. Often responsive design is used as an answer to the question instead of the tool that it is. Like any tool, if it is the right one, it can be used seamlessly to answer that question. If it isn’t the right tool, or if it is used incorrectly, it can be frustrating and confusing. Nothing is worse than trying to get to the specs on whether or not the Batman bed sheets I have had my eye on for so long will fit my bed, but that information was deemed not important by the designer for me to see on my phone, so it was hidden, and there is no way for me to find it. Your site should be responsive to the user, not just the browser. If your definition of a successful site depends on resizing your browser window and seeing if it fits every time, then you are not asking the right question. The right question is “Does this site give the user what they are looking for?”
What Is the User Trying to Do?
Your audience may have different needs on a phone than they do on a desktop. Your site may be like a great margarita – great idea at home, but should probably not just have a different sized packaging for mobile. Your users may even be entirely different on a mobile than on the full desktop version of your site. More than likely, they're looking for different content, and they certainly have different tools and capacities depending on the device they are using. The further away from a blog that your site is in purpose, the less likely that a basic responsive implementation will be helpful to your users.
When determining the site design or build is successful, it doesn’t matter if you are checking the box next to a buzzword. The tool is not what is important. What's important is successfully answering the question for each user. As Winston Churchill said at the close of WWII, “When you provide your audience what they seek, then you will have won the internet.”
