Responsive web design is the future of real estate online

We’ve had many discussions with clients over the last 18 months about the impact mobile computing is making on their digital marketing.

We’ve covered it in-depth on this blog too: here and here.

Bottom line? Computing as we know it is undergoing a radical transformation. The PC is increasingly sitting tethered to a desk at work, and most of us consume information everywhere else on smaller, perpetually connected devices.

Real estate is clearly responding to this shift. As more and more people experience online real estate on mobile devices, the challenge is how to present an experience to these visitors that is truly optimized for them?

We’re bullish on the mobile web for many reasons. App stores are cacophonous, while the browser remains ubiquitous. And new frameworks allow us to approximate the rich interactions we love in native apps.

This week, the Boston Globe showed us just how far you can take this idea.

Take a moment and visit www.bostonglobe.com – we’ll wait for you. Oh, and while you’re there, make sure you resize your browser window.

(The site is free for September – thanks to Coldwell Banker. Kudos!)

See what I’m talking about?

As your window is resized, the Globe’s content gets automatically refitted into three layouts, immediately giving you discrete yet optimized PC, tablet and mobile views.

This type of responsive web design really demonstrates the future of content display on the web.

Here, there is no need for a “mobile” version of your site (one that’s usually hosted on a separate subdomain). There’s also no need for iPhone or Android apps, either.

The site is clean and user-friendly no matter what device is being used to access it.

How many real estate websites can make that claim right now?