Responsive web design (RWD) is an approach aimed at crafting sites that provide an optimal viewing experience — easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning and scrolling — across a wide range of devices, from desktop monitors to tablets and mobile phones. When we convert a Figma, PSD or any other design file into a live website, responsiveness is not an afterthought: it is built in from the very first line of markup.
The three building blocks of a responsive site
1. Media queries
Media queries are CSS3 rules that let a page apply different styling depending on the characteristics of the device it is displayed on — most commonly the width of the browser. They are what allows a three-column desktop layout to gracefully become a single-column mobile layout without a separate mobile site.
2. Fluid grids
In a fluid grid, page elements are sized in relative units such as percentages instead of fixed pixels, so proportions adapt to any screen. The math is simpler than it sounds: on a 1000px reference layout, a 160px column is simply 16%. Modern fluid designs prioritise relative widths over fixed dimensions throughout.
3. Flexible images
Images are also sized in relative units — up to 100% of their container — so they scale down gracefully and never overflow their containing element on a small screen.
Mobile first
We recommend, and follow, a mobile-first strategy: build the essential experience for the smallest, most constrained devices first, then progressively enhance it for larger screens and more capable browsers. This keeps pages lean and fast where speed matters most.
Speed matters
CSS3 lets a design adapt dynamically to different devices, and serving appropriately sized graphics for smaller screens keeps load times fast. Site speed is both a user-experience win and a search-ranking factor — which is why every conversion we deliver is speed- and SEO-optimized out of the box.
Have a Figma, PSD or Sketch design that needs to become a fast, responsive website? Get in touch for a free consultation.