Flexibility in demand: What a modern website should look like

Adapting a website to different screens is associated with many challenges.The world is online. Information, news and notifications can be accessed at home, in the office and on the move - around the clock. However, the tablet on the sofa, the PC at work and the smartphone on the train have different screen sizes, resolutions and functionalities, so a successful website today must be as flexible as possible. The creative approach of responsive design should provide the solution. Experts discuss the current possibilities in the MK survey.Channel-appropriate content in demand"The decisive advantage of responsive design lies in the automatic adaptation of the website to the user's screen," says Angelo Buscemi, Country Manager Adobe Switzerland. At the same time, he warns against seeing responsive design as a universal solution for all challenges with mobile devices: "A website on a smartphone is typically used in a different context than on a PC. If a customer visits the McDonald's website on their smartphone, they probably want to find the nearest branch, and if they go to the VW website on their smartphone, they may be interested in direct access to the service." On the PC, on the other hand, the McDonald's website visitor is more interested in nutritional information and at VW they are more interested in product information. "While responsive design ensures a suitable display on all screen sizes, this technology alone cannot provide channel-appropriate content," says Buscemi.Structured elementsAndreas Hostettler from Sihldruck says about the possibilities of responsive design: "The individual layout effort and the associated costs can be reduced, and the response time to a change request is significantly shorter. On the other hand, more complex applications, such as an e-shop that needs to be successful on a desktop, tablet or smartphone, require specialized solutions." For this purpose, his company offers the Sihldruck Cube solution, a modular service package designed to meet all requirements and wishes for the publication of digital and analog content.Peter Jaeger, Senior Consultant in Crossmedia Publishing at Neidhart + Schön, develops cross-media and multimedia solutions with his customers. For him, a user-centric approach is fundamental: "The creative and technical aspects of responsive design present web designers with the task of optimizing the design for mobile, desktop and everything in between. Pixel-perfect Photoshop templates only work to a limited extent; new, flexible approaches are replacing the traditional design process. Responsive or adaptable web design is therefore not only a requirement for a website, but also for its designer." And the marketing manager of Neidhart + Schön, Joëlle Loos, adds: "You have to ask yourself which elements should be displayed on desktops, tablets or smartphones and which should not. All important structuring elements such as content, navigation and functions are affected by this question. Not only the design, but also the information architecture is adaptive." Optimal presentationPriska Stephani, Management Assistant at A&F Computersysteme AG, considers the greater effort involved in creating the design to be a disadvantage of responsive design: "You have to constantly pay attention to how the elements are displayed in responsive design. This means that you always have to keep the changes to the page in mind, as the design elements naturally shift and adapt to the respective output device. Basically, this means that the creation effort or the mental work is greater. Different image sizes also have to be kept in stock so that they can be used in a way that suits the output." On the other hand, however, there are the great advantages of responsive design: a single page provides the optimum display on all output channels. With WoodWing, A&F offers solutions for the professional editorial workflow. In the area of responsive design, Adobe DPS supports the WoodWing modules."Solutions must become more web-oriented"Dieter Herzmann, Managing Director of St.Gallen-based Topix AG, says about the problems of responsive design: "In addition to the different types of devices, the screen display and resolution must be taken into account. The functionalities of the individual devices also differ. A great deal of flexibility is required for the universalization of content." And for Herzmann, the main challenge is: "How can I grab the end user's attention in a fraction of a second? What can I trigger in them?" As a technological challenge, Dieter Herzmann cites the manufacturers' efforts to incorporate the mechanisms of print and web into the products, so that there is then only one editing product: "The software solutions must become more web-oriented, away from coding and towards visual processing." He cites Adobe Muse as a successful approach. With Vjoon K4, Topix distributes a tool that supplies such systems.For young and oldAnd the range of responsive design projects managed by Topix is impressive, including solutions for smaller companies and organizations, such as a carpenter's newspaper or the Wandern.ch portal.The main focus, however, is on supplying and supporting media, publishers and agencies. Finally, Vjoon K4 also provides the basis for major publishers such as Burda and Conde Nast, where 1,000 and 1,300 workstations respectively are connected to K4. Herzmann cites the ability to pick up a company's processes and integrate them into the industrial workflow as the key to Vjoon K4's success. Vjoon K4 is also used in the marketing department of Raiffeisen Bank and by the Swiss Federal Finance Administration, but despite the comprehensive technology in the background, Dieter Herzmann has no doubts: "The editorial handling and maintenance of content is still a huge effort. Customers want to be able to use all channels immediately at the touch of a button. But there's no getting around channel-specific content preparation." And as a further challenge, he points to the world of images. In the case of responsive images, the solutions are only just beginning to emerge.Control from the CMSPeter Jaeger says of the selective provision of content and functions: "The aim is to offer users content and functions tailored to their needs. On the one hand, you don't want to deprive users of relevant information and, on the other, it is important that they can meet their requirements just as quickly and conveniently on a small screen when they are on the move as they can on a large computer screen at their desk. "Due to the multi-layered nature of responsive design, Joëlle Loss also points out the importance of taking a holistic approach to the challenge with customers and partners: "User needs are always at the heart of this. If we know how the requirements of the different user types differ, we can create a more effective, targeted design process." Neidhart + Schön generally recommends the use of responsive design to all customers: "Of course, the initial effort required to design and structure an adaptive website is somewhat greater. But the content can still be managed from a central publication system such as a CMS. This eliminates the need to set up redundant platforms," explains Peter Jaeger.Financial limitsAndreas Hostettler considers the step towards responsive design to be feasible for SMEs: "Content management systems offer cost-effective responsive design templates that adapt the company's digital presence to the different sized displays of consumer devices." As a current trend, he has noticed the need for tablet publishing solutions that are tailored to SMEs: "The workflow via the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite brings small and medium-sized companies to their financial and personnel capacity limits when it comes to responsive design, as the layout has to be adapted anew for each end device. Our approach with a solution from Arkitex Eversify - the latest module in Sihldruck Cube - does justice to this fact. "Asked about successful multi-channel solutions, Angelo Buscemi says: "In Switzerland, SBB is certainly one of the leading companies. Regardless of whether customers access the website on a desktop, smartphone or tablet, the content is always adapted to the respective device. In Germany, Volkswagen has shown how a global presence with a consistent brand message and an optimized user experience can be implemented across all platforms. "Both companies use Adobe Marketing Cloud solutions to manage their online presence.