Responsive Web Design is bad for the user

I have been reading the excellent article by @brad_frost a couple of times and reflecting… Even if I may represent the “mobile old timers” who still know how to write WML, I am 100% in on RWD, html5 and all that buzz (unlike some others). It is bound to happen and it is good for mobile.

However, the message in the blog post cant be emphasized enough:

RWD as defined does not really solve any problems for the mobile end users. 

RWD is solving the developers problems (…or creating new). Users don’t care. And suddenly, everyone who can do RWD claims to be mobile experts… And to my experience so far, most RWD sites done by some these experts give a worse end user experience when it comes to relevance, speed and “snappyness” compared to mdot sites or device experiences. And again, as Brad and Jason points out, speed and snappyness is what the end user really want and need to perform the task. Current RWD tend to provide the opposite.
thisistheweb

This is the web. The web is the ultimate platform. Diversity is not decreasing, it’s increasing. In RWD, you don’t know who or what you are talking to. Finding out may cost the end user valuable time.

I am still in the “do stuff server side” camp, but of course, use use fluid grids, flexible images, media queries and any other suitable techniques to make the end user return to the site again. That’s what it is all about.

Read: Responsive Web Design: Missing the Point | Brad Frost Web.

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