As more and more people rely on smartphones and tablets to get information, nonprofits must figure out the best way to make sure their Web sites display information just as well on the small screen as on computers.
Some groups have been creating special mobile versions or apps that work on different types of phones and tablets, but with the dizzying array of new technology, that process is complicated and expensive. That’s why a new approach is gaining popularity.
Called responsive design, the goal is to build a Web site that automatically recognizes the device or screen size a viewer is using. When you call up one of these sites on an iPhone, for instance, it instantly displays material using dimensions of the phone’s screen. When that same site is viewed on a laptop computer or a tablet, everything is shown in bigger dimensions. And nobody—not the viewer or the nonprofit—has …