world turning faster every day and information getting spread quicker than ever, having a website is highly imperative for any service or business. People are always on the move now and they search the internet for everything with their smart phones and tablets. So isn’t it necessary that you have a mobile version of your website too? There are two ways you can do that-responsive web design and mobile website. Let me discuss it further.

Firstly let me tell you what these two actually means. Responsive web design is something in which the codes of the website resize the content of the website to fit into a mobile screen. Mobile website is a separate entity in which a new URL is set up which has a subdomain ‘mobile’ or ‘m’. When somebody opens a mobile website, the code in the website after registering it, redirects the browser to the dedicated page. So how different are they from each other?

Let us now compare and see the ‘Good, Bad and the Ugly’ how these technologies differ?

Responsive and Mobile web design

RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN

Good
• Google is the GOD for this set up. Original content and proper coding is the key to manage this system. Google recommends this design over a separate mobile website.

• It is free of resolution problem unlike mobile sites. All you need is a style sheet and a HTML document to construct a layout.

• User experience is the key here. If your site isn’t good enough, visitors will abandon it. So all you need to do is focus on your layout, content and user interface.

• Cost-effective

Bad
• It’s hard to place banner ads as the software and images don’t fit well in this design.
• It needs more focus on front-end code for it to work across all browsers.

Ugly
• Different screen size requires different resolution for content. So what you view in a desktop may not be the same as viewing in a mobile. Sometimes it ruins the user experience when the content doesn’t get placed well in mobile.

MOBILE WEBSITE

Good
• You can easily customize and maintain it like a normal website.
• Browsing becomes easy and faster as the features are tailor-made for a mobile viewing.
• Content and images are light and user interface becomes simple and fun.

Bad
• Some people especially while using tablets may not like to see a mobile version. They would want to experience a desktop feel.
• Duplication can become an issue as you need to make a website and a similar mobile version too. So it doubles your task.

Ugly
• Maintaining a mobile website is like taking care of a separate website. It requires double the money and work force.

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