There’s a general consensus on what responsive design is, but I have a really hard time being okay with the fact that most people overlook the most important aspect of making a site responsive.

Sure, when viewing a site on mobile we need to increase the font size and somehow get that long-ass menu (that the client really wanted) working in this small 5” screen, that’s all fine and well – that is definitely part of making a site responsive.

A desktop user is probably looking for different content than a mobile user.

The one thing I find people forget to think about or mention, and it’s something I really try to drive home is the fact that a desktop user is probably looking for different content than a mobile user. My go-to example for this are banks. Imagine you’re a bank (look at you with all that money over there), people visiting your website from a desktop computer might be doing so to find information about you, your types of accounts and what separates you from the competition. Essentially, your objective on a desktop experience is to sell yourself to this new visitor and help them come to a decision on any questions they may have about banking.

Mobile visitors on the other hand may be visiting your site for a completely different reason. These users are most likely already banking with you and just want to login to their accounts, view balances and pay bills. Your objective completely changes and so does the user experience. Yes, you still offer the same content across all devices, but on mobile you may want to rethink and rearrange your hierarchy of content.