The way people access the internet is undergoing a sea change. People are buying smartphones and tablets at a much higher rate than they do PCs, and by 2015, more internet users in the US will access the internet through mobile devices than through PCs. As web developers then, it is clear that we must likewise change the way we approach web design.

If you work in or around web development, you’ve probably heard the terms mobile first and responsive web design being thrown around with abandon in the last few months. These concepts are what I’m writing about today, as the first in a series of posts about 55 Minutes' approach to web and application design.

For those that don’t work in the field, here’s a quick recap:

• Mobile first is the notion that since more and more people are accessing the internet primarily through mobile devices, web design should focus on mobile applications first, with designs for other devices like tablets and desktop computers following.
• This goes hand in hand with responsive web design, which—recognizing the fact that the number of ways people access the internet has exploded in recent years—is an approach to web design that aims to provide a good user experience across a broad array of devices.

Here at 55 Minutes, we believe mobile first and responsive web design are the future of the web.

Now, these are early days; while mobile first and responsive web design have gained a great deal of mind-share among the web development community, there are still relatively few sites available that actually implement these practices. Over the next few posts, I’ll be discussing how we’ve incorporated mobile first and responsive web design into our own projects, and things we’ve learned along the way.