Is HTML5 the Best Choice for Responsive Website Design?

The huge popularity of smartphones, tablets and phablets has made the web landscape complex. It has become essential for each business to create responsive websites to keep the visitors engaged by delivering solid web experience. Along with being highly responsive, the website also needs to be compatible with both conventional and mobile devices.

So website designers use a variety of tools to make the website accessible on different types of devices. Many web programmers, nowadays, use HTML5 to make the websites and web applications work on multiple devices. HTML5 has further made it easier for developers to create rich and responsive internet applications without putting any extra time and effort.

Why HTML5 is the Best Choice for Responsive Website Development?

Easy to Integrate a Variety of Content: To keep the visitors engaged, a website must be designed by integrating a wide variety of content. HTML5 enables website designers to integrate different types of content by using syntactical features like <audio>, <video> and <canvas>. Likewise, the semantic value of a document can also be enhance by using tags like <article>, <section>, <nav>, and header. As the graphic and multimedia content can be integrated with the website without using any third party plug-ins, the website can be accessed by users on any device.

Elegant Forms: Most websites interact with visitors through forms. HTML5 makes it easier for website designers to enhance the user interface by using fancier forms. Further, the user input can be validated through HTML. The native form validations make the website accessible on browsers without relying on JavaScript. Also, the programmers have option to capture different types of user inputs for search and form.

Cross Browser Compatibility: The performance of a responsive website is also affected by its compatibility with widely used web browsers. At present, HTML5 is supported by some of the hugely popular web browsers including Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer 9. The developers also have option to define doctype to make the tags recognizable for old browsers. However, the older versions of certain web browsers still do not recognize new HTML tags. But the web developers can simply add JavaScript shiv to make the website compatible with older browsers. The enhanced compatibility makes websites more responsive and interactive across browsers.

Efficient Option to Place Cookies: Most responsive websites use cookies to track unique user data. But the cookie data are added to the HTTP request headers. It also results in increased response time. HTML5 allows users to reduce cookie size through two storage options, i.e., sessionStorage and localStorage. Despite not being a permanent database, these storage options can be used effectively to store structured data temporarily. Thus, the website will become more responsive due to the efficient use of cookies.

Geolocation API: To become highly responsive, a website must figure out the current location of the user. The location of a user can be determined based on his wireless internet connection, IP address or the cell phone tower his mobile device is talking to. Some web browsers are even designed with dedicated GPS hardware to capture the location of the user through satellites. The web developers can use HTML5 geolocation APIs to make the HTML5-compatible browser-based application capture the current location of the users. So it becomes easier for the website to keep the user engaged by delivering the most relevant content.

Improve User Experience through Native APIs: Each responsive website needs to enable users to interact with the content, while responding to them effectively. HTML5 makes it easier for developers to build more interactive and responsive websites by using several native APIs. For instance, they can use the drawing HTML tag <canvas> to make the website more responsive. Likewise, they can further use native APIs like timed media playback, offline storage database, document editing, browser history management, and drag and drop.

However, it is also important for the web programmers to keep in mind the shortcomings of HTML5. They also need to explore ways to enhance the responsiveness of websites by addressing these features. The developer can still rely on HTML5 to optimize the accessibility and performance of websites without writing complex code. To get maximum benefits of HTML5, you may consider hiring services of a HTML5 development company.

We provide HTML5 QA and testing services. If you would like to hire HTML5 developers from us, we would be glad to assist you at Mindfire Solutions.

What has Bootstrap or HTML5 in Offer for Designers?

A constant increase is noted in the number of web developers who use HTML5 Mobile UI frameworks to quickly develop web apps that deliver richer user experience. Based on the nature and requirements of the project, the developers have option to choose from a wide range of HTML5 Mobile UI frameworks including Twitter Bootstraps 3, App Framework, Sencha Touch, jQuery Mobile, TopCat and Kendo UI. Each of these frameworks comes with loads of features and libraries to enable developers to build HTML5-powered web apps without investing extra time and efforts.

Why Web Designers Rely on Bootstraps and Other HTML5 Frameworks?

Avail Readymade Pieces of Code: Bootstrap enables developers to use readymade pieces of code through the libraries. The libraries can be used to pump life into a website without writing additional code. The programmers can simply chose the relevant libraries and fit them into the structure to save time. Further, they can use styling and designing features of the framework to reap the benefits of CSS style sheets.

Option to Customize the Framework: The HTML5 frameworks are further highly customizable. A programmer can evaluate the features of Bootstrap in detail, and decide the capabilities relevant for his project. So the framework can be tailored according to the specific needs of the development project. However, this option makes many programmers feel that they can easily ditch some features of Bootstrap.

JavaScript Libraries: Bootstraps allow developers to use JavaScript libraries to enhance the overall performance of the web application. The developers also have option to use JavaScript for both structuring and styling. As JavaScript is an integral part of every web development project, the access to JavaScript library makes it easier for developers to make the app deliver richer user experience. They can use the library to accomplish several tasks to manipulate button, tooltips, modal windows alerts and scrollspy without writing any additional script.

Easy and Fast Integration: Bootstrap can also be used by developers to optimize the look and feel of websites that are already live. For instance, the overall look and style of a table can be altered simply by selecting and copying the required styles to the CSS file. Further, Bootstrap will immediately generate its own style that can be directly linked to the specific CSS file in use. The simple and fast integration makes it easier for developers to optimize both new and existing sites without putting any extra effort.

Complements Futuristic Technologies: While creating a website, developers always use futuristic technologies. Bootstraps enable programmers to create websites and web application using elements that will remain current over a longer period of time. Also, Both CSS3 and HTML5 will remain an integral part of website and web application development in the longer run. So programmers can use the HTML5 Mobile UI framework to create websites that complement both current and upcoming trends in web development.

Enhance the Website’s Compatibility: Other frameworks like HTML5 Boilerplate allow designers to rapidly build robust and adaptable web applications. Along with increasing the application’s cross-browser compatibility, the framework further optimizes it for mobile devices. As CSS contains the required reset CSS, it becomes easier for programmers to optimize the websites without relying on external reset CSS. Boilerplate further enables developers to access CSS, JavaScript, image and documentation to accomplish complex tasks without writing any code.

However, the web developers must be familiar with HTML, CSS and JavaScript to use the HTML5 Mobile UI frameworks easily. They also have options to combine different HTML5 Mobile UI frameworks. Also, they can evaluate the pros and cons of several widely used frameworks to avail all the tools required for keeping the foundation of the new web development project. To get maximum benefits of HTML5, you may consider hiring services of a custom HTML5 development company.

We provide HTML5 web development services. If you would like to hire HTML5 programmers from us, we would be glad to assist you at Mindfire Solutions.