What Is Responsive Web Design?

Responsive Web design is the approach that suggests that design and development should respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on screen size, browser, platform and orientation.

The practice consists of a mix of flexible grids and layouts, images and an intelligent use of CSS media queries. As the user switches from their laptop to a mobile device the website should automatically switch to accommodate for resolution, image size and scripting abilities. One may also have to consider the settings on their devices.

So in other words, the website should have the technology to automatically respond to the user’s preferences. This eliminates the need for a different design and development phase for each different type of device.