The beauty of responsive web design is that it can provide an excellent user experience on a variety of devices and screen sizes. Responsive web design is becoming increasingly popular. Mobile devices and smartphones are becoming more prevalent.
In comparison to a separate mobile site designed for a specific device and screen size, a site that works well provides a better and more consistent user experience.
The tablet version of a site might automatically switch over to two columns if it uses a responsive design. The content is thus easily readable and navigable.
There are certain tools that can make creating a responsive website much easier. There are many tools for responsive web design that are being introduced as a result of the rapid introduction of technology.
Table of Contents
Why Should You Use Responsive Web Design?
Web design that is responsive ensures a website looks good on any device. A responsive website displays the same information and page elements regardless of what device you are using; however, the layout changes based on the smaller screen size of smartphones and tablets.
This website responds automatically to the size of the screen each time it loads by adapting the display to match the screen layout and provide an intuitive experience for its users. With responsive web design, web designers can provide a good and consistent experience across all devices.
There is also the option of building two separate websites: one for mobile devices, and one for desktop computers. Because of the increasing number of smartphone and tablet types and screen sizes, this option may only work in a small fraction of cases.
And if you provide different content or information to your visitors, you risk providing some of your visitors with a subpar experience. Why make mobile visitors inaccessible to content that you know is valuable to your desktop visitors?
In addition to being good for visitors and search engine optimization (SEO), responsive web design is easier for you since you only have to maintain one website. However, if you’re new to web design, creating a responsive website can seem daunting. Luckily, there are several tools that make adaptive design easier.
The following are the top 10 best tools for responsive web design.
Best Tools For Responsive Web Design
1. Gridset
Gridset is a project by Mark Boulton, currently in beta, that aims to drastically simplify the process of responsive web design and development. You have undoubtedly seen many tools that make this promise. However, most are little more than glorified grid calculators.
Designers and developers can use Gridset to build custom, responsive layouts using grids. Using it, you can create any type of grid, from regular columnar grids like those found in CSS frameworks like Bootstrap.
It can be used with a variety of content management systems, such as Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress, as well as popular graphics applications such as Photoshop and Fireworks.
2. Wirefy
Wirefy is a tool that helps web designers and developers create quick, manageable wireframes. It helps speed the journey from sketch to finished product. Like the web, Wirefy is constantly evolving. It requires a well-defined set of atomic elements, which allows new UIs to be quickly assembled.
For responsive web design, Wirefy is a very useful tool. You don’t have to worry about countless calculations if you have some experience with CSS and HTML.
Wirefy is in fact a collection of responsive HTML snippets and templates that scale in response to browser resizing across multiple devices. Developers or designers who focus on content first as the basis for their responsive designs will find this the best tool.
3. Adobe Edge Inspect
Adobe Edge Inspect (formerly known as Adobe Shadow) is a preview and inspection tool that helps front-end web developers and designers develop and test web projects for mobile web browsers.
Adobe Edge Inspect would be a helpful tool when you are trying to figure out how your website would appear on different devices and screen sizes.
You can preview the presentation of your responsive site on one mobile device alone, including an iPad, Droid X, iPhone, Galaxy Nexus, and other devices with Adobe Edge Inspect. Viewing the site on these different platforms doesn’t require multiple devices on your table.
4. Bootstrap
Bootstrap is a free and open-source CSS framework aimed at developing responsive, mobile front-end websites. It includes HTML, CSS, and JavaScript-based design templates for typography, forms, buttons, navigation, and other interface components.
It is a great front-end website development platform that provides a lot of features (easy to customize CSS front-end framework) for developing effective and efficient websites.
Built at Twitter by Mark Otto and Jacob Thornton, it is compatible with the latest desktop, tablet and smartphone browsers.
5. Adobe Edge Reflow
Edge Reflow is an application that enables responsive web design development. Similar to Adobe Muse, Edge Reflow’s design is based on the visual layout of a web page rather than the code that makes it up.
It is one of several tools that make it possible to visually design a responsive website. After converting Photoshop (PSD) files to HTML and CSS, Reflow visually adjusts the design using breakpoints.
With Reflow, you can drag and drop content and edit the formatting using panels, but it does require some knowledge of HTML and CSS (at least the basics).
6. Gumby2
The Gumby2 framework, which uses the Sass CSS preprocessor, is a responsive web design framework that you can download and customize according to your needs.
With grids, forms, buttons, toggles, switches, dropdowns, tabs, drawers, and templates, Gumby2 has a robust collection of tools.
7. Invision
The Invision App has been extremely helpful for communicating the design transitions and journey between screens with other team members. Users can upload their designs and interact with them in real-time.
Its main advantage is that you can send clickable designs to your phone via SMS, underscoring the importance of being able to test your designs yourself. It is also now compatible with Android phones.
8. UXpin
You can create interactive wireframes and prototypes with UxPin, a design app, and an online design tool. This tool provides users with a toolkit containing common design elements as well as a large library of custom UI elements.
The advanced users of UXpin will appreciate the ability to spend more time creating beautiful full-color wireframes.
9. Export Kit
The use of Photoshop for designing websites has been a hot topic. I heard many voices saying that Photoshop is soon going to be replaced, and designers won’t be able to use it.
You can design a website or application in Photoshop and instantly see it turned into a full-fledged website or application. By converting your Photoshop file into HTML, CSS, JS, WordPress, Android, and more, Export Kit’s bridge the gap between your project assets and your code.
10. Marvel
Marvel lets designers create prototypes of mobile apps and web projects online. It’s a web-based application that eliminates the need to code. Marvel claims their app makes it easy to turn sketches, images, and mockups into realistic mobile and web prototypes.
In contrast to a PowerPoint presentation or cumbersome email attachment, this tool lets you pitch and share your ideas in a more interactive manner.
Final Words
Google recommends responsive web design because it allows websites to provide great user experiences on a variety of devices.
Web designers face new challenges as the tech industry develops new devices with new capabilities and limitations.
Our lives are inextricably linked to the Web. In all likelihood, it has already occurred behind closed doors and companies are accepting that jQuery is the only way to dominate wearables.