Kim’s Website Design & Marketing
Responsive Web Design Examples
As users of mobile devices increase in number, businesses that own websites have to make their web designs more responsive to the various display sizes of these devices. With over 57% of web traffic coming from mobile devices, not having a responsive website is no longer an option for any business that wants to prosper in the 21st century.
Today, I am going to share some of the best examples of responsive designs that you can look up to while designing your site. The websites and themes I’m going to share are all well-built and work well with both mobile devices, personal computers, and Tablets. Let’s get started!
Website Design Examples
Apple is an American tech brand that has lasted over four decades. Their website is well-built with a good balance of black and white color. Most importantly, the main pages of the websites are very responsive and will automatically scale to the size of the display being used to browse. For instance, the image and text arrangement on the home page will generally be different on mobile devices will be arranged in a single column as opposed to multiple columns for desktops.
Tesla – an American automotive/tech company also has a well-built website that uses black and red as its default colors. The website is also very responsive on all types of devices. All the pages on the site will automatically scale up/down depending on the size and type of device that is being used to browse.
Despite having a mobile app, Dropbox also made sure that their web apps interface for mobile devices offers the same level of user experience as those accessing the app through their desktop computers. All the content that users with personal computers view can also be seen by mobile device users. The only difference is the arrangement and scale.
GitHub also has a very responsive design that enables users to comfortably view all the content on the site no matter the kind of device they are using. You will notice the content on the homepage will automatically change to a single column from 2 columns when you are using a tab or smartphone. The signup area is also just a call to action button on smartphones, unlike for desktops and tablet devices where the input fields for user details appear above the “sign up” call to action.
The user experience for this eCommerce website builder is the same across all devices. You will notice that the main menu automatically changes to a toggle button when you are using a tab and a phone to access the site, unlike on desktops where the entire menu is displayed on the top section of the site. The content is also scaled to a single column on mobile devices, unlike on desktop and tabs where some sections of the site have content in double-column format.
Slack is one of those brands that are known for simplicity, and this is very prominent even on their website. When you get to their site, you will realize all content is scaled down to a single column for handheld devices where the desktop version maintains double and triple columns of content in sections of the site.
This brand that uses green and white as the main colors of the website offers a seamless experience across all devices. You will notice that the logo is on the top left corner of the site for the desktop version will automatically shift to the middle for mobile devices. The columns are also scaled down to two and one for tablets and mobile phones respectively.
The tech blog uses a dynamic responsive design that automatically switches the way content is organized by detecting the size of the device one is using to browse the website. For instance, you will realize that the sidebar menu doesn’t appear along with the main content on mobile devices like it is on desktops. The image aspect ratio also dynamically changes based on the device you are using to browse.
This website is also well-designed to boost user experience on all devices. Just like most responsive sites, they have a full main menu on the desktop version and a minimized one on handheld devices. You will also notice the customer logos on their site are scaled down from five columns on desktops to four and two on tablets and smartphones respectively.
This website that focuses on displaying images of the Architectural work automatically changes the number of columns displayed based on the device you are using to browse it. Images will also automatically change to a single column when you are using a phone and a double-column while using a tab and a desktop computer.
This multimedia website also gives its users a seamless user experience whether they are using the desktop or mobile version of the site. It is a responsive website from the main menu that is shrunk to just a toggle bottom on mobile devices. The site also makes navigation easy for mobile phones by adding gesture-driven carousels for touch devices.
BBC News is one of the most responsive news websites on the internet. BBC addressed the challenge of making images clear both on the desktop and mobile versions of the websites by dynamically changing their aspect ratio based on the device a user is using to browse the site. They scale down all the content (images and texts) in a way that makes the users on mobile devices comfortable to view. Most of the content is also arranged as a single column for mobile devices and multiple columns for desktops.
The design of this website was also made in such a way that it favors users of all kinds of devices. Some of the features like the search bar and the main menu were redesigned on the mobile devices to make them more viewable and clearer for the users. The website also shrinks the columns of their products from five for the desktop version and two for the tablet and mobile phone version.
As one of the leading software companies in the world, Microsoft took time to make their website friendly for both desktop and mobile devices. This website has lots of pages, but they managed to make all their content easy to view for the different types of devices. Navigation of the website is also pretty simple because of adding some buttons that make it easy to move from one page to another for touch devices.
This website was designed to give its users the same kind of seamless experience no matter the device they are using to browse. It is also very fast when it comes to loading on all devices, with pages fully loading in 2 to 4 seconds based on the speed of the network you are using. The main menu and the logo of the website are also scaled up/down based on the device you are using to browse the site.
Website Design Tools and Themes
Here are some of the top WordPress themes that are responsive and optimized to work well for both mobile devices and desktop computers.
This is one of the most powerful themes you will find on WordPress that is fully responsive and SEO optimized. It has different types of layouts and templates that are well optimized to work on both mobile devices and desktop computers. Just like most of the responsive themes, its main menu items and columns of content are all scaled down to a size that makes viewing on mobile devices more convenient.
Astra has a wide library of themes that can be used by different businesses. These themes are fully responsive and work well for both desktops, tablets, and mobile phones. The good news is Astra themes support Elementor – one of the most powerful WordPress page builders. When you create the desktop version of your Astra site, it has code that automatically creates a version that is optimized for mobile devices.
OceanWP is a multipurpose WordPress that is designed and optimized to create responsive sites. This theme can be used for creating responsive information websites, eCommerce websites, and blogs. While creating your pages with this theme, they will be automatically optimized for devices with different sizes and form factors.
You will also get the option of further customizing the various versions of the site if you are not satisfied with how they look after they automatically generated from the desktop version.
Ultra is another multipurpose theme that is used to create responsive WordPress websites. This theme also has several templates that can be used to create different types of websites using drag and drop tools in WordPress page builders like Elementor. With ultra, you can also customize the different versions with different gestures and navigation features that are fully optimized to the size of the device they are being designed for.
This theme is specifically designed for building responsive news websites and blogs. It has a clean interface that makes it easy for website designers to arrange blogs in a way that suits both desktop and mobile devices that the users of this website will likely use. The various articles are arranged in several columns that are dependent on the size of the device one is using to browse the website.
The website developer can also choose to determine the number of columns that should be displayed for different devices. For instance, you can choose the content to be in four columns for desktops, 2 columns for tablets, and a single column for mobile phones.
Essence Pro is a responsive theme that was designed to be well optimized for devices with different form factors. It is also a theme that has eCommerce ready features designed mainly for websites that are in line with lifestyle, health, and wellness businesses. The eCommerce sections of the sites built with this theme are also well optimized to suit different device form factors.
This is another popular responsive WordPress theme that is designed mainly for small business websites that value responsiveness. It is a product of Elegant – one of the largest vendors of WordPress themes. This theme has a well-build layout with large typography and call to action buttons that are displayed differently for different devices.
Nozama is a WooCommerce theme that was designed for businesses that intend to operate responsive online stores. It comes with all the major WooCommerce features like custom widgets, beautiful templates for products and product category pages, social media integration, etc. All these features are designed for both the desktop and mobile versions of the website to make sure all the users get the same experience no matter the device they are using.
Spencer is a responsive WordPress theme that is part of the impressive elegant lineup of themes. With Spencer, developers can use drag and drop features of the various page builders it supports to create websites that are optimized to work for both personal computers and mobile devices.
All its templates and the various secondary features like the plugins are well optimized to work on both mobile devices and desktops. The good news is you don’t have to redesign the sign for the different devices. Once you design the desktop version of the site, the mobile version is generated automatically.
Felt is a responsive WordPress theme that is designed for news websites and blogs. All its feature including the homepage slider, are well optimized to fit on both mobile devices and desktops. The icons and sections in this theme also automatically change to a suitable size that depends on the device the person accessing the site is using.
