Responsive web design VS Mobile application
The trend of accessing content on tablets and Smartphones has revolutionized many users to shift from desktop to mobile devices. Their digital way of accessing services and products has become inevitable. This has led developers to develop two approaches to mobile-ready web design: Responsive websites and Mobile websites.
A responsive website is a website that can adapt itself on various screens-sizes regardless of the devices that you use it. Responsive websites are usually optimized for viewing on mobile phones, tablets and desktops. Hence, the Responsive Web Design approach eliminates the need for developing a separate website for every mobile device platform. This method of designing is now preferred by web designers and developers as it covers a large number of users’ devices.
Mobile website is a website created significantly for small-screen devices. Similar to a regular website, mobile websites can also be accessed through various browsers. A mobile website generally consists of limited content and hence it is light-weighted and faster when compared to regular websites. If a browser is using a mobile phone to view a website, then the website automatically detects that the website has accessed on a mobile phone and then it redirects the browser to a separate URL to view the mobile specific website.
Mobile applications are the applications developed mainly for mobile device platforms such as iPhone, Android, Google, etc. Usually, mobile applications have been downloaded from app stores. There are a large number of mobile applications available for various platforms. As there are many mobile phones available with various operating systems, mobile applications are incredibly expensive to develop and maintain. If you want to provide users a mobile experience that engrosses speedy decisions and also selling and buying, then you need to have a separate mobile website.
If you want to constantly add something or update your website based on new trends, then having a single responsive web design is the best option. When thinking about the advantages of using responsive websites, first thing that comes to our mind is the download activities that are not required for responsive websites whereas the mobile applications require you to download them from app stores. Also, a responsive website doesn’t require you to update any information again and again. You just need to update the information on your main website that makes your work done.
Responsive websites provides you the compatibility across various platforms. It enables the content updates in the websites driven by Content Management Systems. The main disadvantage of using a responsive website is that the responsive website cannot be used without an internet connection while the mobile applications support this situation. Comparing the development cost, both responsive websites and mobile applications entail a strong budget. As a responsive website is entirely composed of complicated codes and technicalities, it requires a huge development cost. However, a mobile website requires a very low development charges. When considering the optimization process and SEO, responsive website takes up the priority than the mobile websites.