What is Responsive Web Design?

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  1. Sue Adams profile image96
    Sue Adamsposted 8 years ago

    Instead of being addicted to the Stats page and getting frustrated by its inefficiency, I suggest we get rid of hub scores and hubber scores and stats. Just keep us informed on a daily basis of earnings. This would free up time and resources on getting the site to work fast for all devices with RWD.

    http://usercontent1.hubimg.com/12462824.png

    RWD or Responsive Web Design is an approach used by designers and developers to ensure that a website provides the optimal viewing experience across a wide array of devices (from desktop, tablets, to mobile phones). The idea is that the website realizes what device the user has and automatically responds to that viewing preference.

    - See more at
    http://hindsiteinc.com/blog/the_benefit … n_strategy

    Who is with me on this?

    1. janderson99 profile image54
      janderson99posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      +1+1+1+1+1
      I'm ALL IN. I have already converted all my sites to Mobile First RWD. Medium.com started the trend. Deliver what users want quickly and succinctly
      without clutter. Stella is an extinct dinosaur.
      The design is simple, much easier to maintain and users see the same thing irrespective of their screen size - the way sites should be!! Cheers smile

    2. The Examiner-1 profile image59
      The Examiner-1posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      When you say to get rid of stats, Sue, do you mean the entire page? If so, then it is not as easy to check your earnings.
      Why not just look at the earnings and ignore the others?

      1. Sue Adams profile image96
        Sue Adamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

        It's like Marisa said:
        "how much staff time does the stats function require?   If it's not resource heavy then removing it may not free up enough time.   If it IS resource heavy then I agree, there are much better ways to use resources considering we have other ways to get stats."

        If we had to make a choice between keeping scores and stats (especially if they are wrong) and RWD development, I would go with the latter. Scores and stats are i.m.o. less important than Responsive Web Design so that anyone, with any device, gets a fast and satisfying viewing experience.

        1. The Examiner-1 profile image59
          The Examiner-1posted 8 years agoin reply to this

          Readers may not be able to see Hub scores but they can see comments and the Hubber score and I believe they have some value in their reading and commenting on your Hubs.

          1. Sue Adams profile image96
            Sue Adamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Hubber score is only shown on the profile page.
            We could keep that feature, based on total views(traffic) an/ or the  total number of comments(engagement). No hub-scores would be necessary for this equation.

            1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
              TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

              I will say again that the hub scores have value in that they serve as a basic guide to HP writers that let them know if they are meeting HPs guidelines adequately.  I will add, though, that the team does need to tweak the algorithm for this to make it more accurate.

              1. The Examiner-1 profile image59
                The Examiner-1posted 8 years agoin reply to this

                TIMETRAVELER2,
                I totally agree with what you say.

            2. The Examiner-1 profile image59
              The Examiner-1posted 8 years agoin reply to this

              Sue,
              I know. I looked on Profile page and I saw Hubber score - which can be seen almost anywhere - and on that page I also saw the amt. of comments per Hub.

    3. AdvanceWebDesign profile image59
      AdvanceWebDesignposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      You have no choice now but to create any website for mobile devices. Google won't rank any website (especially on the first page) which it not responsive now it's part of the algorithm.

  2. Dressage Husband profile image66
    Dressage Husbandposted 8 years ago

    I would agree with Sue on this, everything on the web now needs to be responsive. I have changed all of my Wordpress sites to Responsive themes already and have implemented Responsive Adsense units on one of my main sites. However I have better results from the targeted static ads at this point in time.

    I would be interested if anyone has used the Adsense Responsive units with success yet.

  3. LongTimeMother profile image91
    LongTimeMotherposted 8 years ago

    What troubles me about your suggestion is the idea of getting rid of stats.

    I love it when the stats are working properly. It is extremely helpful to have all the info on the accounts page in one place. Plus I find the 'search terms' on individual hubs for the past 30 days is a great tool.

    As for hub scores and hubber scores ... I don't get too concerned about them, but it is certainly interesting to watch individual hub scores (when they are not erratic and bouncing all over the place) as a hint as to which hubs need attention. And my hubber score used to provide a little extra motivation to try and improve it when I first started.

    The main issue for me is the stats being more reliable and accurate, as they used to be. I would hate to be forced to go to analytics all the time for traffic stats.

    If all we see is earnings instead of stats, that creates 2 other problems: -

    1) We wouldn't be able to spot immediately if traffic numbers seem inaccurate (therefore encouraging us to check whether or not our earnings reflect true or inaccurate numbers) and

    2) What about new hubbers who are not yet earning? They'd receive absolutely no daily indication of their hubs' performance.

    I think the disadvantages of removing stats and scores would outweigh the freeing up of time and resources.

    I would imagine hp is capable of introducing new features without letting go of old features that have an important (or vital) role.  In my view, the stats information is vital ... so I can't support the idea of getting rid of them.

    Apart from that, you present an interesting idea.   smile

    1. Sue Adams profile image96
      Sue Adamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Accurate traffic numbers can be found on Google Analytics.



      If hubs are featured, they are OK. If not, they need working on or removed. The forums provide sufficient support for newbies. Apart from the inevitable need for RWD, more people would participate in the forums and... spend far less time fretting about scores.

      1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
        TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

        Google Analytics may provide accurate numbers, but they are not user friendly, cannot be manipulated  and do not allow users to compare daily, weekly, monthly and all time views.  I would not want to use them as the only resource for checking my numbers, and I think many people would feel as I do, especially newcomers to HP.

        I find it very helpful when I see numbers on a hub tanking because that allows me to refresh, update or delete as needed.  I have salvaged a good number of hubs using those figures.

        I also think the scores give you indications of how you are doing as per HP guidelines and would also hate to see them go. 

        What you are suggesting is a slippery slope, and it is one I would not want to be involved in.  If it came to that, I would simply pack it in and leave.

        You forget that not everybody here is tech savvy or as experienced as you are.  People need those guidelines and to take them away would be horrible.

    2. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
      TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I totally agree with you LTM.  We need stats.  I am not in favor of getting rid of them for the same reasons you just stated.

  4. makingamark profile image69
    makingamarkposted 8 years ago

    It seems to me that what is important is
    1) content that is authentic, reads well and looks good on whichever screen size people look at it on
    2) content is not being swamped by adverts on both desktop and mobile sites (not liked by authors, readers or Google)
    3) host sites that provide good feedback in terms of traffic, queries and sales

    All the content I have moved off HubPages - after the powers that be determined those hubs as needing needed to be unpublished (generally because they were imports from Squidoo and had more than two links to the same domain and were accused of having affiliate links when there were actually none at all) have gone to a popular website building host with responsive designs.

    So I took the content which HubPages would not publish and....
    * merged topics on niche theme websites with responsive templates which are adaptable and work well irrespective of screen size - and look miles better as well I might add!
    * with statistics from the site and also from Google analytics - in much more detail than anything I get from HubPages
    and I'm getting a lot more traffic as a result.  One site has trebled its traffic - and I'm comparing that to Squidoo days not HubPages.

    It just seems to me that HubPages is tying itself in knots inventing reasons why hubs should not be published or why hubs should be pushed up or down in the hub or hubber score stakes or any number of things which seem to me to actually have no relevance to real life outside HubPages - and whether or not the content actually works on the Internet by filling a gap and meeting a need. 

    The test of that is when you take the same content, put it on another clean site - and watch it perform.

    The only reason HubPages works is because of its critical mass of content. If the authors of the good content gets fed up with the way HubPages works and start walking then HubPages will face the same fate as Squidoo where exactly the same thing happened. 

    I know a lot of the very good authors from Squidoo imported their content here when we were given notice - and have now moved it on to new sites.  That's the way it works with content sites. The good content goes to sites which are controlled by the authors, which are capable of making good content look good - and which provide enough relevant information to their authors to do the tweaking which make them work better.

    At the end of the day, it's not about stats, it's about doing whatever it takes to keep the people happy who have the knowledge and skills to bring in both the traffic and sales - because without either of them this site will develop a commission income stream which will start to trends downward.

    Bottom line - authors are also customers and HubPages forgets this at its peril.

    I would ask HubPages to note that one of the things which keeps good authors happy is accurate statistics which are updated on a daily basis..... smile

    1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
      TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      So you are saying that we should keep the stats, but keep them correct and updated regularly.  I totally agree and am adamantly opposed to removing them.

      I think HP has scores to let people know where they stand with the hopes of making improvements.  If improvements are not made, out the door they go.  This is exactly what HP should be doing.

      You said yourself that the articles that went unpublished were due to not meeting HP's standards.  As per ads and links, those standards support what Google wants.

      Your work may be doing well on other sites right now, but talk to me in a year or two, after it has matured and Google has had a chance to catch up with it.  Then and only then will you know if HP is wrong with what it is doing.  It's just too soon right now.

      1. makingamark profile image69
        makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

        TIMETRAVELER2 wrote



        Sorry - you've lost me!


        No what I actually said is that HubPages ties itself in knots trying to interpret Google's standards whereas some of who take out unpublished content and publish it elsewhere (on the basis of what Google actually says) don't have any problems with Google.




        You comment seemed to me to suggest I don't know what I'm doing. I'm suggesting to you that I do. I speak as somebody who has been writing a blog that is now so old it's approaching Vintage and during that time has had 7.7 million pageviews. Each of my blog posts probably offends against HubPages rules interpreting "what's required for Google". Many of them are on the first page of Google or very highly ranked for specific topics I've written about. I get tons of traffic from Google sites all over the world. A lot of my very popular posts are old ones - and they still keep getting visitors.  I'd say the proof of the pudding is very definitely in how a blog or website stands after 2 or 5+ years - and how Google rates the author.

        IMO the HubPages interpretation of what Google wants is just plain WRONG!

        1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
          TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

          There was no way for me to know how long you had been writing elsewhere, thus the comment about "wait and see".  One would think that if HP wants to succeed, the team would stop all of the playing around and do what you are doing!

          The comment I made about keeping the stats page (correct and updated of course) is that people like me use those figures to assess the success or failure of various articles so that we can make adjustments that help us to improve.  I would not want to be without them.

          By the way, where do you have your other articles?  I tried a blog about a year ago and while I got lots of views, I made nothing financially, even though I monetized them.  Here I at least get something, even though my views are nowhere near what some get.

          I never came here for the money, but I spend a great deal of time working on my hubs, so it is nice to see some rewards from it.   Nobody likes working for nothing!

          1. makingamark profile image69
            makingamarkposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I generally make a point of looking at somebody's profile before making a comment about their expertise - implied or explicit.

            You should try taking a look at mine sometime! smile

            I never set out to make any money. Everything I've done has been for the love of my subject area and the wish to help people be better informed. I think you'll find a lot of people who are like me do a lot for free have been rewarded many times over in various ways over the years.  I know I have.

            If you want to be successful, you have to be
            1) an expert
            2) able to communicate
            3) persistent
            4) not in it for the money
            5) able to keep going for months (and sometimes years) before you start to make money

            These attributes also mean you know you can pick up your content and start again somewhere else if need be.

            1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
              TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

              I did not mean to comment on your level of expertise.  I have read many of your forum posts and know that you are well educated with online writing.

              However, from the way you talked, it seemed to me that you had only recently moved hubs off of this site and onto another one.  This is why I said that only time would tell about the level of success one might have when doing this.

              Your profile does not address a whole lot about issues such as this one, so looking at it does not tell you much.

              For example, people look at mine and often assume I am a man, when in fact, I am a woman!  Some think I am in my prime, but in fact, I am a 72 year old grandmother.

              My profile shows my articles, comments, hubber score, etc, but it does not show how many views I have had.  Just because I don't get many comments, people might assume I don't do well here.  In fact, I am approaching 250,000 views, and this is after completely revamping my site and eliminating more than 47 articles earlier this year.  My most popular article rarely gets comments because of the nature of the topic. 

              My point is that profiles only give a glimpse.  Unless you clearly tell people how long you have been doing things off site, there is no way for them to really know.

  5. Marisa Wright profile image87
    Marisa Wrightposted 8 years ago

    I think the question that has to be asked is - how much staff time does the stats function require?   If it's not resource heavy then removing it may not free up enough time.   If it IS resource heavy then I agree, there are much better ways to use resources considering we have other ways to get stats.

  6. janderson99 profile image54
    janderson99posted 8 years ago

    A radical suggestion for DIY Mobile first designers
    If you have your own websites and have run them through Googe's Pagespeed insights a few point stand out - https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
    => the advice is to avoid having each page upload js files including css
    => the page should 'stand alone' and not call common resources
    => a typical HP page gets a 66/100 score for mobile speed

    Anyone who has used wordpress and content management systems has been plagued with updates and load speed problems.

    The logical conclusion from this to 'hard-wire' and to 'hard-code' your pages. Do you really need a database and a system that plugs stuff from it into a common design? A new page in a simplified mobile first design can be made using a HTML editor by copying your last page and changing the different elements, using the same core. Once constructed you probably rarely need to change the 'article' page. This means changing the title, description, text in the body, images and layout, by pasting into a copy of an existing page. It is almost as easy to do this via HTML edits, than to enter new elements into a database. Hard coded pages are blindingly fast. Google loves them and you can include the code you have in js files for css etc. on each page. Radical perhaps but Google seems to be pushing for that way to go.

    1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
      TIMETRAVELER2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      To most of us, what you just said is Greek!  I wouldn't have the first idea of how to do what you said if I even wanted to, but I do think the HP team has the know how to do it if they so choose and if they feel it is necessary.

      When I run my articles through Google's test for mobile readiness, all of them come through with flying colors.  This is due to HPs planning, certainly not mine.

    2. janderson99 profile image54
      janderson99posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      My hard coded articles get 85-90 / 100 scores even with CSS js file.

    3. Sue Adams profile image96
      Sue Adamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you so much for all your tips. I am going to hard code my web site. If I understand you correctly, I should have all the images directly in the Html page rather than having the code point to the database where the images are located.
      And put all the style code into individual pages rather than having to refer to a shared style sheet?

      A lot of initial work, but if it makes the page fast instantly fast to show, then I'll go for it.

  7. shivam srivastva profile image60
    shivam srivastvaposted 7 years ago

    Extraordinary case of extremely responsive and fluid design. Truly pleasant for motivation for any designer willing to step up their aptitudes for adaptable work..

  8. WryLilt profile image87
    WryLiltposted 7 years ago

    On my Wordpress sites, I use a plugin called "Google Analytics Dashboard for WP".

    It shows me all the data for my site, directly ON my site, pulled straight from Google Analytics - on a sitewide or page per page basis, with all the referrers, sources, bounce rates and times you can see when logged into GA itself.

    Why can't HP integrate GA directly into this site somehow? Why double dip on traffic tracking?

  9. psycheskinner profile image84
    psycheskinnerposted 7 years ago

    I want to get the stats direct from hubpages, because they state off-site stats are not one-to-one accurate and so they would be of limited use in correcting any issues that arise, and useless for calculating RPMs connecting Hubpages money to offsite and differently calculated traffic scores.

    For any publisher (on or offline) I think having accurate tallies of the data used for payments is an absolute requirement for proper transparency.  It need not be real time but it should be to the level of what is a recorded valid visit, and what was paid for it.

 
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