In today's digital landscape, having a responsive website is no longer optional - it's essential. With users accessing sites from a multitude of devices, ensuring your website looks and functions well across all screen sizes is crucial for user experience and SEO.
Website responsiveness gives you more freedom.
Previously, in order for users to be able to find information, they had to turn on desktop computers, wait until it loads, and only then find the information that interests them.
Today, in order to find what interests you, you need only a few seconds. You are no longer dependent on computers, you can quickly search for information using various devices: laptops, smartphones, tablets, and even smartwatches.
Since the website responsiveness on different devices is a driving indicator for business development and an increase of the audience, the WishDesk agency decided to dot the i’s and cross the t’s. Here we look at what website responsiveness is and why you should be responsive testing, etc.
Have a task for us? We are ready to execute it quickly and at an affordable price! If you have a question, contact the development agency.
What is responsive web design?
According to Sweor 83% of mobile users say that a good UX across all devices is very important.
Responsive web design is a design that fully meets the needs of users and is displayed without any problems on any types of devices and browsers. The layout should automatically adapt to different sizes and capabilities of various devices while taking into account that the user uses not a "clicks" but a "touch."
This allows you to equally display the content, images, and video on your site independently on the screen size and the power of the device.
Why Responsive Design Matters
Before diving into testing methods, let's briefly touch on why responsiveness is so important:
- User Experience: A responsive site provides a seamless experience across all devices.
- SEO Benefits: Google favors mobile-friendly websites in its search rankings.
- Increased Reach: You can effectively cater to users on all types of devices.
- Cost-Effective: It's more efficient than maintaining separate mobile and desktop versions.
Responsive web design helps you to avoid:
- wrong resizing
- inconvenient scrolling
- inappropriate zooming
- false panning
The main advantage of the adaptive design is the fact you don't need to create a mobile website.
Why Responsive Design Testing is Important?
Every day, the number of people who use their smartphones for shopping, finding information, entertainment, and social networks is constantly increasing.
Therefore, it is important that your site is mobile-friendly and available on other devices.
To ensure the best possible user experience for your users, avoid problems with the responsibility of your site. The best option is to do responsive design testing.
Testing a responsive web design involves checking:
- are all the links and URLs the same, regardless of different browsers and devices?
- does your website load differently on various devices?
- does dynamic allocation of content change after screen resolution changes?
Responsive design testing = creating the best UX
How to do responsive design testing?
You may be asking:
- How can I test a website?
- Am I Responsive?
- How can I test my website on mobile?
If yes, then read on to find out about 2 common ways to test responsive websites.
Methods to Test Website Responsiveness
Browser Developer Tools
Most modern browsers come with built-in developer tools that allow you to simulate different screen sizes.
Steps:
- Open your website in Chrome, Firefox, or Safari
- Right-click and select 'Inspect' or press F12
- Click on the device icon (usually in the top left of the dev tools panel)
- Select from preset device sizes or drag to resize manually
This method to check responsive website is particularly useful for checking responsiveness in Chrome, as it offers a wide range of device presets.
Responsive Design Checker Tools
There are numerous online tools designed specifically for testing website responsiveness.
Popular options:
- Responsinator
- Am I Responsive?
- Responsive Design Checker
These tools allow you to input your URL and view your site across multiple device sizes simultaneously.
Physical Device Testing
While simulators are useful, nothing beats testing responsiveness of the website on actual devices.
Tips for physical device testing:
- Test on both iOS and Android devices
- Include tablets in your testing
- Check both portrait and landscape orientations
Cross-Browser Testing Tools
To ensure your site is responsive across different browsers, consider using cross-browser testing tools.
Options include:
- BrowserStack
- Sauce Labs
- LambdaTest
These platforms allow you to test your site on various browser and device combinations.
Google's Mobile-Friendly Test
Google offers a free tool to check if your site is mobile-friendly.
How to use:
- Go to Google's Mobile-Friendly Test
- Enter your URL
- Review the results and recommendations
Top 8 tools to test responsive design
1. Emulators
Emulators is a tool that helps you see how your website will be displayed on different phone models, operating systems, and tablets on different types of browsers. You do not need to install Emulators to get the data.
Price: free/ starts at $29 per month
2. Responsinator
Responsinator is perhaps one of the easiest tools. It shows you how your site will look at specific types of devices. Enter the URL of your site and wait a few seconds to see the data about your page. The tool shows the portrait and landscape view on different devices.
Price: free/ you can donate
3. ViewPort Resizer
ViewPort Resizer is an extension for browsers that gives you the opportunity to see how your site looks in various formats. All you have to do is just add this extension. You can apply 47 options for screen sizes.
Price: free
4. Screenfly
Screenfly is a great option for viewing your site on various screen sizes. You can look at your site display without any problems and it is available on phones, laptops, computers, tablets and smartphones with different screen extensions. Just enter the URL of your site.
Price: free
5. BrowserStack
BrowserStack is a tool that is already used by more than 36,000 customers, including Twitter, Microsoft and MasterCard. It is constantly expanding and today it allows you to test your site on more than 2000 browsers and smartphones.
Price: free / starts at $29 per month
6. Responsive design checker
Responsive design checker is a tool that offers lots of screen sizes, from the smallest to fairly large (up to 24 wide). It focuses on large screens. A good feature is the ability to make screenshots for mockups.
Price: free
7. Cross Browser Testing
Cross Browser Testing is a convenient and multi-functional tool that allows you to test your site for responsiveness. It allows you to simultaneously test the site for various screen sizes and devices. Cross Browser Testing allows you to make full-page screenshots and then compare them with previous versions.
Price: free/ starts at $29 per month
8. Google Resizer
Google Resizer shows the look of your site on different devices after you enter your URL. Google developers created an understandable and effective tool for testing your site responsive.
Price: free
These tools can help you identify performance issues that may affect your site's responsiveness.
Use Google Chrome to check website responsive
Steps to check your website’s responsive design with Google Chrome:
1. Open the site you want to test in the Google Chrome tab. For example, we will use the WishDesk agency site.
2. Right-click on the landing page of the website to open the menu.
3. After the menu opens, click "Inspect".
4. Then click on the "Toggle device toolbar." Below we showed where this button is located.
5. So you can see or your site is adaptive for some other types of devices and how it will look.
Checklist to test the responsiveness of your site
- Check the content, alignment, and the font in which it is written. Are they equally displayed on all types of devices?
- Shrink and enlarge the window of your browser to see the main challenges connected with changing viewports.
- Check the loading speed of your page on various devices with different resolutions. In a perfect world, it should be similar for all devices.
- Verify the working of all the links.
- Check whether all the images, videos, audio that are on your page are displayed and played without problems.
- Make sure all paddings are present despite having various screens.
- Test whether the pop-ups work and are not broken due to change in extension.
- Check the correct display of the site menu and responsive navigation.
- Consider conveniently switching between pages and easily returning to the home page.
- Check whether the wireframes of various devices correctly reflects the design of your page.
- Verify that the site is soft for various breakpoints.
- Check the correct alignment of the header and text.
- Make sure there are no scrolling issues.
- Ensure that the user can easily fill in all the required fields.
- Check that no horizontal scrolling has appeared on the site after resizing.
Best Practices for Maintaining Responsiveness
- Use a Mobile-First Approach: Design for mobile screens first, then scale up.
- Implement Fluid Grids: Use percentage-based widths instead of fixed pixels.
- Utilize Flexible Images: Ensure images can scale within their containing elements.
- Employ Media Queries: Use CSS media queries to apply different styles for different screen sizes.
- Regular Testing: Make responsive testing a part of your routine maintenance.
Final thoughts
Testing website responsiveness is a necessary step that helps you to ensure a good UX and the correct operation of your site. By utilizing a combination of browser tools, online checkers, and physical device testing, you can comprehensively assess and improve your site's responsiveness. Remember, responsive design is an ongoing process - as new devices emerge and user behaviors change, continual testing and optimization will be necessary to maintain an effective, responsive website.
You can contact WishDesk Drupal developers for help in order to test your site and fix all errors that may occur there. For our part, we promise that we complete your task professionally and do it twice as fast as before, so you can save some money.
