Responsive web design is becoming more important the more mobile internet use increases. It’s a form of web design that accounts for how sites look on mobile devices, which can’t handle as much bandwidth as desktops. Yet mobile devices are growing in popularity because they allow you to access the internet from almost anywhere. The smaller screen size is another factor in how content now must be shaped. The following tools can help make responsive web design easier.
Viewing Different Platforms
- Adobe Edge Inspect
A tool that helps you see how your site will appear across various operating systems is Adobe Edge Inspect, formerly called Adobe Shadow. Instead of testing your site on different devices you can use one device to view how the site will look on different platforms.
- SimpleGrid
SimpleGrid is a tool that delivers all the elements of a traditional website to various types of mobile devices on one screen.
Screen Size
- Adaptive Images
Sites can look different from device to device depending on the screen size. Adaptive Images detects screen size of a user’s device and automatically rescales a custom version that fits that screen.
- Foundation
Foundation is useful for designers who want to craft sites for mobile devices first as a priority and then add more complex code for larger screens. A key advantage to the tool is that it helps speed up loading time.
Image Resolution
- Retina Image
The images on your website can be customized for mobile devices when you use Retina Image which serves different image resolutions based on the user’s device. When integrated with a website, this program sends either a normal or high resolution image depending on the user’s cookie values.
- Resize My Browser
Resize My Browser is a tool that lets you test your site’s appearance with various screen resolutions. This tool also gives you the option of using toolbars and scrollbars.
Apart from the aforementioned tools, there is an open source tool called Bootstrap which was originally designed for social networks such as Twitter. Bootstrap brings web designers together as collaborators on web projects and, as a cross-platform tool, it provides a fun way to experiment with responsive web design.
Erica Miller is the Senior Marketing Coordinator at GMR Web Team, a full service digital marketing agency located in Tustin, CA. She joined the team shortly after graduation and has immersed herself in the marketing world. With everything from proofing content to strategizing marketing campaigns she has hit the ground running and is enjoying every bit of it.

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Stephan
October 29, 2013 at 2:11 pm
Very nice tips for website design.
Image resolution is very important. you should give you audiences something really clearly and big enough for them to analyze.
thanks for your sharing
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Cassie
November 1, 2013 at 12:11 pm
This is very interesting. There’s a lot of good points here. I’ve learned a lot from this. Thank you for sharing this post.