I’m going to say it: responsive web design annoys me on any device apart from the iPhone. Often when I’m browsing the web I’ll resize my Safari window for a reason, maybe it’s so I can focus on an individual image without the distraction of content or it could be because I want to just see a column of text whilst I’m coding a website. Regardless, the reason why I resize my browser window isn’t important, the important reason is that I do do it.

The sudden surge of individuals and companies making their sites “responsive” means it’s sometimes impossible for me to do what I like to do. I’m not saying they can’t make the decision to do it; it is their website and they have every right to do what they want… I’m just saying that, as the user, I prefer to make the choice whether everything is fluid or not.

The only time I appreciate responsive website design is when I’m on my iPhone. Anybody with a smartphone will understand my frustration when it’s impossible to read a column of text on a site because it’s too wide. Applications like Instapaper have provided us with an easier way to read on the device, but sometimes it’s just not appropriate and responsive design is the only way we can read content of a page on our device.

I can’t wait for the day the trend of responsive design dies out.