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We’ve seen a tremendous shift over the past few years in the way other Atlanta web designers and developers are building websites for local businesses.  With more than 50% of people searching from smart phones, more customers are requesting “responsive” designed themes which support HTML5/CSS3 web standards.   For those focusing on getting their clients to call right away or fill-out a lead form, they’re leaning toward a mobile site instead of “responsive”  design.  Things are changing so rapidly now with the onset of mobile, social and video…that it’s hard for the Atlanta web design community to even keep up with them.

Responsive Web Design is no longer an Option

The idea of responsive design has become the new standard in Atlanta web design circles, and isn’t just limited to full websites scaling up larger or down smaller.  The trend among designers is to work backward by starting with the mobile finished product and build your way back into the full sized desktop and laptop sized site.  It will then need tweaked and checked on tablet size screens before final approval of the web design.

It’s more often easier to plan your most important interface elements and then squeeze each of them into the initial mobile layout.  If they don’t all fit, you will have to get creative or drop one or two. At the same time, Atlanta web designers are planning for how the layout will adjust and respond as the window grows larger. You will have room to include a standard sidebar, possibly 2 sidebars, along with numerous other common page elements.

There is a little cutting edge web design book published by A List Apart called Mobile First.  It was written by Luke Wroblewski , who brings up many of these similar ideas and concepts. It points towards a need to fully utilize mobile interfaces as a primary focus of up and coming web designers as well as the priority among Internet users. Most desktop or laptop browsers will be fine with any style of layout, as long as everything is laid out well and makes sense. The final design and issues that influence it are more difficult to foresee on a mobile platform, so it’s useful to start out smaller while planning for the larger design.

Atlanta Web Designers Balance Form with Function

It ends up to be a high challenge to combine all the design requirement of “responsive” or mobile formats with the need to often include email capture, video and social media.  There are so many web design factors involved and only so much real estate to be had on the front page of each new or redesigned website.  Our local Atlanta marketing consultants have to work closely with each customer to identify the right requirements prior to build, including their priority in case they can’t all be made to work together in the finished web design.

Looking Forward over the 2013 Web Design Season

Over the rest of this year, we’ll surely unearth some new schemas and mindsets within the context of the Atlanta web design community.  Atlanta has grown into a global community with Atlanta web designers to be found from all over the planet and with such a diversity of web design ideas as a result. This creates an environment where different ideas flurish and ultimately, everyone gains within the Greater Atlanta web design space, especially the  customers and end users. There has truly never been a better era to enter the field of web design.