3 Best Responsive Website Builders for Creating Mobile-Friendly Sites
By Sam Nguyen
In this article, we’ll explore three of the most user-friendly and best responsive website builders that are leading the market today: Shopify, Wix, and SquareSpace.
- Shopify: Most responsive website overall
- Wix: Best for creative freedom
- SquareSpace: Best for clean, modern design
What Is A Mobile Responsive Website?
A mobile responsive website is a type of site specifically designed to display correctly on all devices, from desktop computers and laptops to smartphones and tablets. It ensures that users have a seamless and optimal viewing experience, regardless of the device they’re using.
A mobile responsive website automatically resizes and repositions its elements based on the device’s screen size and resolution being used to view the site. This adaptive design means that instead of having to pinch, zoom, or scroll excessively, users can easily read text, view images, navigate menus, and interact with different elements of the site conveniently on their mobile device.
Mobile responsive design improves user experience significantly, which not only leads to more time spent on your site but can also contribute to higher conversion rates. Furthermore, search engines like Google prioritize mobile-friendly websites in search results, so having a mobile responsive site can also improve your site’s SEO.
How Will A Mobile Responsive Website Help You?
A mobile responsive website can offer a variety of benefits, whether you’re a business owner, a blogger, or an individual creating a personal site. Here’s how:
- Improved User Experience: Responsive design ensures that your site adapts to any screen size, providing a seamless experience for users. This means that no matter what device your audience is using, they can navigate your site easily and quickly, leading to higher user satisfaction.
- Increased Mobile Traffic: With more people using mobile devices to access the web than ever before, a mobile responsive website can help you reach a larger audience. A website that’s easy to use on a smartphone or tablet is likely to attract more mobile visitors and keep them on your site longer.
- Higher Conversion Rates: An optimal viewing experience across all devices leads to increased engagement and higher conversion rates. If users can easily navigate your site and find what they’re looking for, they’re more likely to make a purchase, fill out a form, or perform other actions that contribute to your site’s goals.
- Improved SEO: Search engines like Google prioritize mobile-friendly websites in their search results. This means that if your site is mobile responsive, it’s likely to rank higher in search results, leading to more organic traffic.
- Lower Maintenance Costs: In the past, some businesses had two versions of their website: a desktop one and a mobile one. Maintaining two separate sites can be costly and time-consuming. With a mobile responsive design, you only have one site to maintain, which can save you time and money.
- Future Scalability: A responsive website is designed to work on any device, which means it’s prepared to accommodate any new devices and screen sizes that might be introduced in the future. This scalability makes a responsive design a smart long-term investment.
Read more: How Much Does Website Maintenance Cost?
How To Make A Responsive Website with a Responsive Website Builder
Creating a responsive website using a website builder is a straightforward process. The exact steps might vary slightly depending on the platform you choose, but here’s a general guide to help you get started:
- Choose a Responsive Website Builder: Choose a website builder that automatically creates responsive sites. As we discussed earlier, Shopify, Wix, and Squarespace are all excellent choices, but there are many others available.
- Sign Up and Choose a Plan: Create an account with your chosen website builder and select the appropriate plan for your needs. Most builders offer a range of plans with different features and pricing levels.
- Choose a Template: Select a template that aligns with your vision for the website. Remember, with a responsive website builder, the template will automatically adjust to different screen sizes.
- Customize Your Template: Use the builder’s customization tools to modify the template to your liking. This might involve changing colors, fonts, and images, and adding or removing elements. Ensure the changes you make still retain the responsiveness of the template.
- Add Your Content: Fill in your customized template with your own content, including text, images, videos, etc. Again, make sure the content you add doesn’t affect the responsiveness of the site.
- Preview Your Site: Use the builder’s preview feature to see how your site looks on different devices. Most builders allow you to preview your site as it would appear on a desktop, tablet, and smartphone.
- Publish Your Site: Once you’re happy with how your site looks and functions, it’s time to publish it. With most builders, this is as simple as clicking a “Publish” button.
- Review and Update Regularly: After your site is live, it’s important to review it regularly and make updates as necessary. This will help ensure your site continues to work well as new devices and screen sizes come onto the market.
Remember, creating a responsive website is about more than just making it look good on a mobile device. It’s about ensuring that it’s easy to use and navigate, regardless of the device your visitors are using. By using a responsive website builder, you can achieve this with ease, even if you have little to no previous web design experience.
What Are Some Of These Responsive Website Builders?
Shopify: The Most Responsive Platform Overall
Why is this website builder so responsive? Why we picked it
Shopify is an exceptional website builder renowned for its unparalleled responsiveness. Its unique features and functionalities make it stand out from the competition. The platform has been meticulously designed to cater to the needs of both novice and experienced users, ensuring a seamless mobile-friendly website-building experience.
Our decision to pick Shopify as one of the best responsive website builders stems from its remarkable ability to adapt and optimize content for various devices, providing a consistent and delightful browsing experience for mobile users.
Key features
- Cross-Device Compatibility: Shopify websites are designed to be responsive across various devices, ensuring a seamless browsing experience on desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
- Versatile Theme Customization: Shopify helps you easily customize your website’s appearance and layout, making it easy to adapt to different screen sizes and resolutions without compromising visual appeal.
- Responsive Checkout: Shopify’s checkout process automatically adjusts to fit different devices, streamlining the buying experience for customers, regardless of how they access your website.
- Mobile Commerce (mCommerce) Ready: Shopify offers dedicated features and optimized templates for mobile commerce, enabling a smooth shopping experience on smartphones and tablets.
- Drag-and-Drop Editor: With Shopify’s intuitive editor, you can easily rearrange and resize content elements, ensuring a visually pleasing and responsive design across all devices.
- SEO-Friendly URLs: Shopify generates clean and SEO-friendly URLs, contributing to better search engine rankings and improved visibility across all devices.
- Powerful Analytics: Shopify gains valuable insights into your website’s performance with Shopify’s robust analytics tools, allowing you to track traffic, monitor user behavior, and make data-driven decisions for continuous improvement.
- Social Media Integration: Shopify integrates social media platforms into your responsive website, enabling seamless sharing of content and products across different devices.
- Mobile App Integration: You are able to extend your website’s capabilities with Shopify’s extensive range of mobile apps, facilitating tasks like inventory management, customer support, and marketing.
- Push Notifications: Brand owners can keep customers engaged by sending push notifications and SMS alerts, ensuring timely updates and promotions are delivered to users on any device.
- Blogging Optimization: Creating and managing a blog that is optimized for viewing and reading on all devices, increasing engagement and user interaction is possible with Shopify.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Extensive App Ecosystem: Shopify boasts an extensive app ecosystem, allowing users to enhance their site’s functionality and stay ahead of the competition.
- 24/7 Customer Support: Shopify’s dedicated customer support team is available round the clock, providing prompt assistance whenever needed.
- Secure and Reliable: Shopify ensures top-notch security measures, protecting your website and customer data from potential threats.
- Scalability: As your business grows, Shopify can accommodate the increasing demands, ensuring a seamless transition to handle higher traffic and sales.
- Abandoned Cart Recovery: The platform offers built-in tools to recover lost sales by reminding customers to complete their purchase, boosting overall revenue.
Cons
- Transaction Fees: Depending on the chosen pricing plan, Shopify may charge additional transaction fees, affecting profit margins for small businesses.
Read more:
Wix
Why is this website builder so responsive? Why we picked it
Wix stands out as a remarkably responsive website builder due to its unique focus on creativity. With an extensive array of over 800 visually stunning templates, Wix empowers users to craft mobile-friendly websites that leave a lasting impression. Its drag-and-drop interface allows for unparalleled versatility, enabling effortless customization for all screen sizes.
Wix is chosen as one of the best responsive website builders because of its dedication to providing users with a platform that encourages creativity, ensuring every site is truly unique and different in its appearance and functionality.
Key features
- Wix Templates: Wix offers a vast collection of professionally designed templates (over 800), covering various industries and styles, providing a solid foundation for mobile-responsive website creation.
- Versatility: Wix’s platform caters to users of all skill levels, from beginners to experienced designers, allowing seamless adaptability to different user needs and preferences.
- Easy to Use: With its user-friendly interface and drag-and-drop editor, Wix makes website building an effortless experience, even for those without coding knowledge.
- Cloud Platform: Wix’s cloud-based infrastructure ensures that websites load quickly and efficiently on all devices, enhancing the overall responsiveness of the sites.
- Mobile Optimization: Wix automatically optimizes websites for mobile devices, ensuring that content, images, and layouts adjust perfectly to varying screen sizes.
- Blog: Wix’s integrated blogging platform enables users to create and manage mobile-friendly blogs, enhancing user engagement and content dissemination.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Stunning Templates: Wix’s vast template library allows users to find the perfect design for their website, saving time and effort in the initial setup.
- Intuitive Customization: The drag-and-drop editor and a wide range of design options make it easy to customize every aspect of the website, ensuring a unique and tailored appearance.
- App Market: Wix’s app market offers a plethora of add-ons and integrations, providing extended functionality to create a feature-rich and dynamic website.
- Extensive Support: Wix provides robust customer support, including forums, guides, and tutorials, ensuring users receive assistance when needed.
- SEO-Friendly: Wix provides built-in SEO tools, helping users optimize their websites for search engines, increasing visibility and organic traffic.
- Mobile Editor: Wix’s mobile editor allows users to fine-tune the mobile version of their site, ensuring an optimal experience for mobile visitors.
Cons
- Template Switch Limitation: Once a template is selected and a site is built, switching to a different template requires rebuilding the entire website.
Squarespace
Why is this website builder so responsive? Why we picked it
Squarespace excels in responsiveness due to its dedication to a simple, modern and clean design ethos. The platform’s intuitive interface ensures that every element adjusts seamlessly to various devices, delivering a consistent and visually appealing experience.
We chose Squarespace as one of the best responsive website builders for its unique focus on minimalist aesthetics, allowing users to create stunning, mobile-friendly sites that stand out from the crowd.
Key features
- Customizable Templates: Squarespace offers a diverse collection of customizable templates that are thoughtfully designed to adapt beautifully to all screen sizes, giving users the flexibility to craft unique and different websites.
- Design Tools: Squarespace provides a range of design tools, such as custom CSS and styling options, empowering users to personalize their website’s appearance while ensuring responsiveness
- Analytics: With built-in analytics, Squarespace allows users to monitor site traffic, user behavior, and mobile responsiveness, providing valuable insights for continuous improvement.
- SEO: Squarespace is equipped with essential SEO tools, helping users optimize their websites for search engines and ensuring better mobile visibility and ranking.
- Blogging: Squarespace’s integrated blogging platform enables users to create mobile-friendly blogs, offering a seamless reading experience on smartphones and tablets.
- eCommerce Integration: For businesses, Squarespace offers seamless integration of eCommerce functionality, ensuring that online stores are mobile-responsive and optimized for mobile shopping.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Simplified Design Process: Squarespace’s user-friendly interface and pre-designed templates make it easy for users to create elegant, mobile-friendly websites without technical expertise.
- Mobile-Optimized Templates: Squarespace’s templates are inherently responsive, saving users time and effort in manually adjusting layouts for different devices.
- 24/7 Customer Support: Squarespace offers excellent customer support, ensuring users receive timely assistance whenever required.
- Seamless Integrations: Squarespace integrates seamlessly with various third-party services, enabling users to enhance their website’s functionality effortlessly.
- Mobile Editing: The mobile editor allows users to make quick updates to their sites on the go, ensuring real-time adjustments for the best mobile experience.
Cons
- Limitations of payment gateways: Squarespace only supports fewer than 10 payment options.
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Best Responsive Website Builder: FAQs
Making a website 100% responsive means that it will look and function well on various devices and screen sizes. Here’s how you can achieve that:
- Use a Fluid Grid Layout: Design your site using percentage-based widths rather than fixed pixel sizes. This way, elements will adjust relative to the screen size.
- Implement Flexible Images and Media: Images and media should resize to fit the container. You can use CSS properties like max-width to make them scale appropriately.
- Apply Media Queries: Use media queries to apply different CSS rules for various screen sizes. This allows you to change the layout, font size, or other design elements based on the device’s dimensions.
- Test on Different Devices: Regularly test your website on different devices and browsers to ensure it looks and functions correctly.
- Use Responsive Design Frameworks: Frameworks like Bootstrap or Foundation provide a set of tools to create responsive designs with minimal effort.
- Avoid Fixed-Size Elements: Any element with a fixed size may cause issues, so ensure that all containers and elements are flexible.
- Consider Touch Screen Interactions: Keep in mind the different ways users might interact with your site, such as touch screens, and design accordingly
Responsive websites are generally built using a combination of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript:
- HTML: Provides the structure and content of the website.
- CSS: Used to style the website and includes media queries, flexible grid layouts, and flexible images to create a responsive design.
- JavaScript: Can be used to add interactivity and additional responsiveness to the site.
- Responsive Frameworks: Many developers also use responsive frameworks like Bootstrap, Foundation, or Tailwind CSS to simplify the process and ensure cross-browser compatibility.
Responsive design is not a single technology but a set of techniques and practices that ensure a website adapts to the device it’s viewed on, providing an optimal experience for all users. It involves careful planning, design, and ongoing testing to ensure that the site functions well across all platforms.
Conclusion
Best responsive website builders like Shopify, Wix, and Squarespace empower businesses to craft visually captivating and user-friendly websites that adapt flawlessly to any screen size, fostering an exceptional online presence and enhancing customer engagement.
