{"id":28617,"date":"2014-10-21T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-21T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/futurelab.digitalmachine.co.nz\/blog\/whats-the-difference-between-adaptive-and-responsive-websites\/"},"modified":"2021-11-09T10:22:23","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T21:22:23","slug":"whats-the-difference-between-adaptive-and-responsive-websites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/futurelab.digitalmachine.co.nz\/au\/blog\/whats-the-difference-between-adaptive-and-responsive-websites\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the difference between adaptive and responsive websites?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot of the business we\u2019re doing at FutureLab is with new clients wanting to upgrade their outdated websites. The really classic \u2018old\u2019 websites are those 1-page sites with a textbox half the width of the page and tiny script inside. You know the ones we mean.<\/p>\n

But outdated websites, these days, are also ones that you can\u2019t easily use on a tablet or mobile device. These websites may look alright, but try and use them on your smartphone and you\u2019ll quickly be frustrated \u2013 you can\u2019t see the whole page! You need to scroll metres to the right to read the ends of the sentences! And where on earth is the menu??!<\/p>\n

Thankfully, this horrific experience is pretty much non-existent on any medium or large company website worth its salt. However, smaller companies still have some catching up to do. In fact, many small companies probably don\u2019t even realise that their website looks this ugly on a mobile or tablet. Using their desktops at work, they have no need to browse the site on a smartphone, and therefore are just not seeing what is glaringly obvious to any user trying to use their website on the move.<\/p>\n

At home experiment for small business owners \u2013 borrow the smartphone of a niece or nephew, \u2018cool\u2019 friend or, these days, a primary school child (even the 5-year-olds<\/a> have one!) \u2013 borrow that phone and have a look at your website. Does the website layout fit onto the screen? Can you reach everything you need without having to navigate left and right? If not \u2013 you might need to have another look at your marketing budget and prioritise an upgrade, pronto.<\/p>\n

Help! My website looks ugly on mobile \u2013 what are my options?<\/h2>\n

So you\u2019ve seen the worst side of your website \u2013 what now? Well, perhaps upgrading your website just isn\u2019t a priority for you right now. After all, almost 60% of small and medium businesses<\/a> don\u2019t even HAVE a website yet \u2013 so you\u2019re ahead of the game, right! Right?<\/p>\n

Well, for a start, we reckon that the worryingly high percentage of small businesses that DON\u2019T have a website are actually falling way, way behind the game in most cases. You may be running a very successful business with no online presence whatsoever, but if you\u2019re planning on expanding \u2013 or keeping up \u2013 your business operations in the next 5 years, and you\u2019re not the unique service provider in your local area with a very loyal customer base \u2013 you\u2019re risking a lot on that website gamble. If you need more convincing, we\u2019ve written about the benefits of a business website<\/a> before.<\/p>\n

But we digress. The reality is, even if you do have a website, more and more Kiwis \u2013 1.9 million<\/a>, if you like a good statistic \u2013are choosing to browse products and services online. And as you just checked on that toddler\u2019s smartphone, your website doesn\u2019t cut the mustard in the mobile world, so zip! There goes your potential customer, disgruntled and looking for a website that makes browsing online easy.<\/p>\n

There are three options at this point:<\/p>\n