At iBec we spend a lot of time talking to our clients about the virtues of responsive web design. It’s a technology we love to implement and believe is inherent to the web development process going forward. Generally, part of the conversation with out clients involves questions about what responsive web design actually is and why they should invest in it. If you read that last article I posted you should get a good handle on the technological reasons for going responsive. To summarize, the devices people use to access the web are constantly changing, both in capability and form factor—therefore, you need a website that will look great no matter what changes in the future. While all true, these ideas are a little abstract—how is this actually affecting you? Bottom line: more than half of American adults now own a smartphone.
In a recent Pew Research Center study it was revealed that “…56% of all American adults are now smartphone adopters.” I’ve included their graph below to provide a little context.
Credit: Pew Research Center
This shows us two things. First, that right now there are a lot of people who have the ability to access websites through a mobile platform. Second, that in the past two years or so we went from one third of Americans with smarthphones to more than half. ItÂ’s easy to imagine complete saturation in the next 2-5 years. Altogether, itÂ’s possible that half your clients have a smartphone and soon they might all have one. But also keep in mind that this data doesnÂ’t account for tablets. ItÂ’s likely that majority of your clients have some kind of mobile device.
Anyone with a mobile device can access your website. If your site doesnÂ’t load fast enough, isnÂ’t easy to use or just looks bad on their device they wonÂ’t stay for long. This wonÂ’t go over well with your current clients, and it will look even worse to your prospects.
