Responsive design has rapidly gone from being an esoteric buzzword to table stakes for publishers rolling out redesigns. But it also comes with its share of snags.
In the last few years publisher’s referral traffic has split between desktop and mobile. Responsive design emerged as an effective way to address the shift: By taking one design and scaling it to readers’ screen size, publishers have been able to optimize their sites for mobile while not creating entirely new mobile sites from scratch. It’s also theoretically good for readers, who get a consistent experience across devices. But that approach, while attractive, has its drawbacks not just for websites, but their visitors as well.
“Responsive has a certain ‘wow’ factor to it,” said Chris Balmes senior information architect at Blue Fountain Media. “It’s a smart approach broadly, but its case-dependent on whether it always make sense.”
In other words, one-size-fits-all has its limitations. While responsive design makes it easy for sites to port a desktop design to mobile (or vice-versa) it doesn’t address the reality that visitors often have different expectations depending on whether they’re visiting on desktop or mobile. A mobile experience that’s also a desktop experience is essentially neither.
“If your mobile readers are looking for content that’s slightly different from what you have on your desktop site and all you do is shrink everything down, you may miss the mark,” said Dan Saltzman, director of user experience at EffectiveUI.
Page performance is also a concern with responsive design. While mobile versions of responsive sites only display a subset of the page content, there’s still a lot of behind-the-scenes work going on that slows down page loading times. That can kill the user experience, and make readers think twice before coming back.
Publishers aren’t in agreement as to which approach makes the most sense. While recent redesigns from ESPN, Bloomberg and CNN are all responsive, the paradigm still has some high-profile detractors, including The New York Times, which has stuck with a dedicated mobile site, and, more notoriously, Mail Online, which forces visitors to pinch and zoom their way through celebrity news.
“Responsive lets publishers approach mobile, tablets and desktops as similar products but they’re also very distinct, Balmes said. “You need to have an overall website strategy but also a device-specific strategy.”
Saltzman said that while publishers are flocking to responsive sites, most should consider whether doing so actually makes sense for their readership and business model. Likewise, creating a fully responsive site requires more time and money upfront, which also influences the decision. “Understanding the audience use case is more important than ever with this. That’s really what’s going to drive whether you go responsive or create a separate experience,” he said.
Dan Maccarone, co-founder of Charming Robot, said that, despite responsive’s limitations, it’s still the most viable approach for content sites, whose use case tends to be identical on both desktop and mobile. “I’m pro-responsive for content — no question,” he said. “It’s a simple consumption experience. You’re not really creating so many different layouts that it makes sense to code things two different times.”
-
How NBC’s News Group is shaping NBCUniversal’s commerce bets
The nearly 50-person group now oversees two shopping shows, commerce sub-brands across three NBC News properties and direct deal-making for a growing list of sister brands.
-
Member ExclusiveMedia Briefing: How publishers with teen audiences are making their Instagram presences more inclusive
In this week's Media Briefing, media reporter Sara Guaglione reports on what Bustle and Teen Vogue are doing to make sure their Instagram accounts don't contribute to the platform's reported negative impact on teen girls' wellbeing.
-
‘Levers being pulled that are unseen’: Measurement errors inside Amazon’s OSP program setting publishers on edge
A series of reporting errors has become emblematic of a program that has grown increasingly frustrating for its participants over the past year.
-
SponsoredHow publishers can future-proof their contextual advertising strategy
Sal Cacciato, managing director, North America, video intelligence The discourse on contextual targeting has moved from “if” to “how.” Publishers are well aware that they need to be packaging their audiences in ways that enable contextual targeting, but many are still asking themselves what is the best way to achieve that goal. In a telling […]
-
Axios has made $1M in revenue from its eight-month-old software licensing business
Less than a year in, Axios HQ is bringing in more revenue than expected, but the challenges of a tech company are different than those of a media company.
-
Why The Telegraph thinks retiring some newsletters will actually help grow subscriptions
After shuttering a half-dozen newsletters this year and consolidating others, The Telegraph produces over 40 editorial newsletters, eight of which are exclusive to paid subscribers.
