Retrofit Responsive?

[Name Trader]

Is there any way to retrofit responsiveness to a website? Or is it a total redesign from the ground up?

 

[mhdoc]

My impresion from trying to get my own site ready for the April 21 problem is that it might be possible if you currently use a VERY simple template. If, like me, you are using something with more features, it won't be so easy.

I would love for someone to show me I am wrong about that.

 

[enlytend]

It depends on what you have. Most sites, you won't have to do a major redesign. I've been throwing html sites into Bootstrap. Certain parts of a site may need to be rethought for mobile. For example, I mentioned in another thread that I have pages with multi-column comparison tables - how do I handle that for 320 wide Portrait mode? (The Mobile Ready Test checks mobile compatibility down to that screen size - horizontal scrolling of the window is not allowed.)

Some CMS driven sites will be just a matter of switching to a responsive template, if you have a lot of customization it could be trickier.

If responsive doesn't work for you, make a mobile version of your site and serve it by default on screen sizes too small to render your current design.

 

[Name Trader]

OK. This Google search provided a lot of information... https://www.google.com/search?q=retrofit+responsiveness+to+an+old+website&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

So it seems possible. All I've now got to do is find somebody with the skills to do this.

 

[carob]

So it seems possible.

If using a CMS it is probably easiest to do what enlytend said - just switch theme.

The rest probably depends on what it is you are adapting and how mobile-friendly you want it to be. If you just want it all to display on a screen without scrolling but accepting some imperfections you can probably rescue most designs.

 

[enlytend]

FYI, cross referencing the discussion on this in the SEO section. Some details there as to what will and will not pass Google's "mobile friendly" test ...
https://www.namepros.com/threads/google-now-warning-owners-if-site-not-mobile-friendly.844890/