What is RWD responsive web design? What is the difference with AWD?

At present, mobile devices have become mainstream, so the user experience of mobile devices has become more and more important, which has resulted in many different design patterns. RWD and AWD are one of them. The following is what RWD and AWD are and their differences. .

What is RWD?

RWD (Responsive Web Design) in Chinese is responsive design. It was developed by the well-known website designer Ethan in 2010. As proposed by Marcotte, The purpose is to make a website have a good user experience on different devices and present complete content . With the popularity of mobile phones, RWD has become an indispensable part of current website design.

What is AWD?

AWD (Adaptive Web Design) in Chinese is adaptive web design, which appeared earlier than RWD. It is a design method specially tailored for different devices. AWD will design multiple fixed layouts for different types of devices such as desktops, tablets, mobile phones, etc., and automatically select the appropriate version based on the device used by the user.

What is the difference between RWD and AWD?

RWD mainly has one set of designs that can be applied to all devices. It is more convenient to manufacture and has lower development costs. In comparison, AWD customized for different devices is more expensive to develop and relatively inconvenient to produce and maintain, but it allows users of different devices to get the best experience. Below is a detailed comparison table.

Whether a website needs a RWD or AWD design can be evaluated based on the following three factors:

website

Before choosing whether to use RWD or AWD, you need to first think about what type of website you have. If it is a website that requires complex functions and hopes to have a good experience on different devices, such as a store platform, AWD will be a more suitable option. If the website function is simple, just as an image website without complex functions, RWD would be a more suitable option.

human Resources

Human resources are a very important factor. If there are sufficient human resources, AWD would be a better option because it can provide the best experience for users of different devices. But if there are only one or two people managing the website, you may only choose RWD.

Budget

Because AWD requires more resources to invest, it is suitable for companies with larger budgets. But if you don’t want to invest too many resources in this area today, RWD will be a more economical and affordable option. This is why RWD has become more and more popular in recent years.

As the demand for mobile search websites is getting higher and higher, Google is paying more and more attention to the experience of mobile users. The following are the reasons why Google recommends that websites use RWD.

Indexing is easy

Because different devices use the same website, Google can better index the website without having to tell Google which website is the computer version and which one is the mobile version.

No need to redirect

No redirection is required when switching devices, which saves website loading time and improves user experience.

Low maintenance cost

Developers only need to maintain one website, reducing maintenance time and costs.

Reduce the chance of website errors

Having one more website to maintain means an increased chance of errors. Using RWD can reduce problems that may occur when jumping to different devices.

The following is common RWD design logic, which is basically implemented through CSS.

1. Use a flexible grid system

The elastic grid system is the foundation of RWD, replacing fixed pixel design layouts with proportions. Designers can use CSS Flexbox or Grid Layout to dynamically adjust the layout to ensure that all content can be arranged flexibly and adapt to different screen sizes.

2. Use CSS Media Query

Media Query allows designers to use different styles for different device types, screen sizes or resolutions. For example, you can set larger buttons for mobile phones and optimize the layout structure for desktop versions.

3. Use ratio to set size

When designing web pages, try to use percentage widths to ensure that they can automatically scale and adapt to different screen sizes without running out of space.

4. Use frameworks and tools

There are many convenient CSS frameworks such asTailwind CSSorBootstrap. These frameworks are specially designed for RWD, allowing developers to focus more on design.

After completing the RWD settings, the most important point is to test whether the production is successful. The following are common RWD inspection methods.

• Browser developer tools: Press F12 to start development mode to simulate the browsing effects of different devices.
• Zoom browser window: Manually adjust the window size to observe changes in website layout.

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