Look What's Lurking Around Your Website - Responsive Web Design

Got a Website? Got a Smartphone? Better Get a Responsive Website Design

I knew it was trouble the minute I had to attend a two hour class to figure out how to use it. Bad enough that the Smartphone required a whole new mindset including getting my finger to slide over something before I could even talk!

But never, and I do mean NEVER, in my entire imagination did I remotely think that this innocuous handheld device would become the bane of my website world. You see, when my website, www.timetravelmysteries.com, was developed a little over two years ago, everyone was happily using flip-phones for talking and texting, and computers for web searches and the like. All of that changed. Like switching to a microwave to boil water instead of using the stove. (At least that was an easier learning curve). 

Now, according to my web designer, publisher, editors, proof readers and the guy in the dog park who usually screams “Poop Alert,” websites need to be mobile device friendly. That’s a nice way of saying, “Cough up the big bucks, lady, because your website needs a “Responsive Web Design.”

Huh? I know. I was lost, too. Apparently, the way a website looks when you’re sitting at your desk or staring at your laptop over coffee, is not the way it comes across on a handheld device. It wouldn’t be so bad if these devices were just limited to phones, but unfortunately they include iPods, iPads, Tablets and anything where a screen can be touched. And who sits at their desks anymore? We can work standing up, getting a root canal, or even driving if your state doesn't have a law against mobile phone use.

Along with this latest technology, expect to hear such terms as “fluid layouts” and “optimal viewing experiences.” Essentially, graphic designers have been pushed into a new way of doing things. If you’re a teacher, think “Common Core” as opposed to the way things used to be! 

This time folks, I’m taking a "sit back and wait" approach hoping that it will be the phones that “smarten up” to read the websites and not the other way around. I figure a new phone will cost me a fraction of what a new responsive website will. Then again, I’ve been wrong before when it comes to this stuff.

There is, however, one last glimmer of hope. Since responsive website design is relatively new, maybe there’s a company out there who will do it for me as a promo! I would shout their praises on my website and acknowledge them in my soon-to-be released novels. Any takers?  Feel free to call me on my Smartphone.