When it comes to adapting websites for mobile use on smartphone and tablet devices, web designers have responded with two very different technical solutions for increased reach and impact. Depending on the nature of your web project, the latest trends have been all about responsive design – a solution that leaves dynamic serving far behind – and dynamic serving.
Responsive web design is a solution that allows the web server to send the same HTML and CSS files to all clients, regardless of whether the user is accessing a given website from a desktop, smartphone, or tablet. Through this solution, visual presentations are tailored for smaller screens by a special module called Media Queries that essentially ignores CSS declarations tailored for large screen displays whenever the accessing display width is less than a predetermined “breakpoint.” When queries are made that fall below a certain number of pixels, the visual elements are modified, resized, and even deleted if unnecessary for optimum viewing on smaller screens
Dynamic serving, on the other hand, is a solution where the server looks for the user agent value in the HTTP header in order to determine whether it’s dealing with a desktop, smartphone, or tablet. It then sends out different HTML, CSS, and JS code and media files depending on that user agent value. So, unlike the responsive design solution, dynamic serving means that the mobile and desktop users are receiving different content from the same URL.
Having a website that works well with mobile devices is obviously very important, as more than half of all site visitors access through smart devices. Both design solutions have been significant assets in various situations. Now, however, the question has been raised as to whether or not you can or even should use both mobile URLs and responsive design together.
The answer has been a surprising “no.”
When you have a website that uses both a separate mobile URL and responsive design, it actually confuses Google. In fact, in response to all of the questions, Google’s John Mueller confirmed this fact himself just last month tweeting, “We’d probably get confused – which one should we show when? It’s unclear.” Though the webmaster intended to provide both options to better the user experience, Google is essentially saying that idea just doesn’t hold up in reality. It’s better to keep things simple and pick one solution or the other.
Responsive design solutions appear to be the preferred method by most web designers, these days. Websites with responsive designs are able to adjust displays automatically, without distorting the layout, for easy viewing regardless of which device is accessing the content. So, again, it all comes down to your specific needs. For now, though, you can make your assessments and adjustments based on this vital piece of information that comes straight from the horse’s mouth so that you can optimize your site for wider reach, more user clicks, and ultimately a more successful conversion rate.
