The future of website development is responsive web design. Conventionally developed websites have to be viewed on desktops and laptops for an ideal experience. Mobile web designs are specifically made for mobile platforms, ala smart phones and tablets, and they do not provide an ideal viewing experience on desktops or laptops.

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Responsive web design, which is a combination of traditional website development and mobile web design, is the best alternative to both. With responsive web design, a website would be ideally viewable on mobile platforms as well as on traditional devices like computers and laptops.

Social networks, video sharing websites and even search engines have reported that the number of people accessing their sites using mobile browsers or apps has already surpassed the number of desktop or laptop users. In months to come and a year or two from now, a huge majority of internet users will be relying on mobile browsing to search for anything online.

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At such a juncture, responsive web design is not an option but imperative. The purpose of a website is to reach out to as many people as possible. When people are using computers, laptops, smart phones and tablets to access the internet, a business has to have a responsive web design and reach out to those people across any platforms.

The primary attribute of responsive web design is to enable a website or webpage to adapt to the browsing medium and the display of the device. When TFTs and LCDs replaced the conventional monitors or desktops, almost every website in the world had problems with its layout. Even today, most websites do not spread across the entire display of widescreen TFT and LCDs. Likewise websites cannot naturally fit into mobile screens or mobile browsers.

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With responsive web design, a website is configured to be able to resize itself in all aspects to perfectly fit into the display of the device. Whether it is a smart phone with a 4.2 inches screen or a tablet with 10.7 inches display, whether it is a mobile browser or an app connecting to a website, responsive web design will make websites easily viewable, readable, navigable and usable.

There will be a time, very soon, when more than 95% of internet activity will originate from mobile devices and if a company doesn’t endorse and have a responsive web design for their website then this entire mobile market, which is almost the entire target market in reality, will remain untargeted.