How to Make a Responsive Website in Underscores

Responsive web design is a hot topic right now, and for good reason. Designing a website that automatically adapts to any screen size or device is a great way to ensure that your content is always accessible to your audience.

But creating a responsively designed site isn’t as easy as it seems. For one thing, making a website responsive means using a combination of many different techniques and tools. Not only that, but you also have to take into account the limitations of your host, the platform you’re using to build the website, and your own design choices. With so much to think about, it can be tricky to know where to start.

Fortunately, we’ve got you covered. In this article, you’ll learn about the various techniques and tools you need to make a good-looking, functional, and accessible website—no matter the device or screen size.

The Many Techniques You Need To Make A Responsive Website

Before we begin, it’s important to note that creating a responsive website doesn’t necessitate using all of these techniques and tools. Instead, you need to choose the ones that work best for you and your project. With that in mind, here are the various techniques you need to make a responsive website:

Use Flexible Images

Flexible images is the practice of using one image file that contains all the necessary information to display an image in any sized device. For example, if you have a large image file named images-large.jpg, you can use the following code to display it in a large format on any device:

<img src="images-large.jpg" alt="Image Alt Text" />

To make this work, the image size, orientation, and crops all need to be configured in the file. Once that’s done, you can simply replace the <img> tag with the <picture> tag and remove the src="images-large.jpg" attribute. Doing this ensures that the site will resize and display the image appropriately on any platform—and we mean any platform: from a desktop computer to a tablet or mobile phone.

Use CSS To Set The Page Layout

Just because your image is responsive doesn’t mean your content needs to be too. You can use CSS to set the page layout of a website so that the content is always aligned and accessible on any device. To accomplish this, you’ll need to use multiple stylesheets, one for landscape mode and one for portrait mode. You can then choose the one that works best for your content.

For example, if you’re building a website for a company that mostly services customers in Texas, you might want to use an oblique style sheet for portrait mode and a regular style sheet for landscape mode. Doing this ensures that no matter the device or screen size, your content will always be aligned and accessible. Using CSS in this way is pretty common, especially with larger sites that have more complex layouts.

Use JavaScript To Control Animation And Resize Images

JavaScript is a hotbed of activity right now, especially with regards to web browsers and web applications. And it’s frequently used to make a website responsive. Specifically, JavaScript can be used to control animation, resize images, and present a customized experience for the user.

If you’re going to use JavaScript to make your website responsive, you have to make sure that the code is written in a way that is browser-compatible. There are two types of JavaScript you need to be aware of: client-side and server-side. Client-side JavaScript is code that runs in the web browser, while server-side JavaScript is code that runs on the server. Your server doesn’t need to run Javascript, but it can if you want to use the features it offers. Using this type of JavaScript allows you to build a more robust website that is automatically resized and customized for the user.

For example, let’s say you’re designing a food review website and want to include a chat window where users can leave reviews and comments. You can do this by using JavaScript to control the animation and resize the chat window. Doing this ensures that the content is always accessible and that no matter what device or screen size, the review content will be presented correctly. Using JavaScript in this way is becoming more and more common as sites get bigger and more complex.

Use Twitter Bootstrap To Make Your Site Stand Out

Twitter Bootstrap is one of the most popular HTML, CSS, and JavaScript frameworks out there, and it’s frequently used to make a website look and feel professional. What’s more is that it’s completely free, open-source software, which you can download and use in your own projects.

If you’re going to use Twitter Bootstrap, it’s important to note that you’re not limited to using only the ready-made templates. Instead, you have access to the entire framework’s source code, which you can study and learn from. That way, you can make the most of the framework’s many features and customize the design of your site however you wish. Doing this can help bring your site to the next level.

Use Google Fonts To Make Your Site More Professional

Google Fonts is a free service from Google that makes it easy to find and use professional-looking fonts on your site. What’s more, you don’t need to worry about being locked into using a specific font for your site; you can simply choose whatever font you want from the service’s extensive library.

Using Google Fonts is pretty straightforward. All you need to do is load the fonts you want to use in a header at the top of your website. Then, you can replace the default font with a different one in a matter of minutes. Doing this ensures that no matter the device or screen size, your content will be presented in a way that is professional and looks unique.

Choose A Hosting Service That Is Suitable For Your Project

Once you have your domain name, the next step is to find a host for the site. Choosing a hosting service that is suitable for your project can be tricky. For one thing, you need to make sure that you’re actually getting the features you need. In addition, you want to make sure that you’re not being charged extra for things you don’t need. This typically happens with hosting services that offer unlimited plans; however, you can avoid this by choosing a hosting service that offers the features you need and isn’t over-priced.

This brings us to our next point: make sure that the host you choose is actually affordable. Hosting services that offer a free trial or who bill you on a per-use basis can be great for budding web designers who are just getting started. But for someone trying to make a living off of web design, these types of services can be extremely expensive. Instead, look for hosts that offer a good amount of storage, a basic privacy policy, and a money-back guarantee. Doing this can help ensure that you’re actually getting the service you need and that you aren’t risking your financial security by choosing an expensive provider.

Use The Right Tools To Manage All Of This

Now that you’re equipped with the various techniques and tools to make your website look great on any device, the last step is to choose the ones that work best for you. For example, if you’re used to designing websites with WordPress, you might want to check out the widely accepted and popular Beaver Builder theme. It’s completely free, and it offers pretty much everything you need to get started—including a Google Fonts library integrated right within the theme. With that said, if you’re not too experienced with WordPress, you could opt for the Divi theme, which is quite similar and offers even more features.

Whatever you choose, make sure that you download and install the most up-to-date version of the theme. Doing this ensures that you’ll have all the features available and that you won’t have any compatibility issues. Finally, make sure that you familiarize yourself with the theme’s documentation. This will help you get the most out of the theme and create a high-quality site.