Responsive design
A layout that rearranges itself to fit any screen, from a wide monitor to a phone.
What it is
Responsive design means one app adapts to the screen it's on. On a desktop you might see three columns and a sidebar; on a phone the columns stack and the sidebar hides behind a menu button.
It's not just shrinking things. Responsive layouts change structure at specific widths, called breakpoints, so each size gets a layout that actually works.
Always say what should happen on phones. Builders often get desktop right and leave mobile as an afterthought.
How to ask for it
“Make it work on phones too.”
“Make the dashboard responsive: 3 columns above 1100px, 2 columns from 768 to 1099px, and 1 column below 768px. On phones, the sidebar becomes a drawer behind a menu button and the main action button sticks to the bottom.”
"Work on phones" leaves every decision to the builder; responsive design with breakpoints and per-size behavior describes the actual layouts.
You've seen this in
- PAny news site viewed on a phone vs a laptop
- GGmail's web app shrinking its sidebar
- SShopify storefronts