What is the difference between Responsive Design and Adaptive Design?

This is the most basic question that comes into consideration whenever a comparison is made on responsive and adaptive design.

Responsive design has become a household design.

Responsive sites and Adaptive sites are the same, but they only differentiate based on their appearances and their browser environment on which they are being viewed on.

Responsive websites respond to the size of the browser at any point.

No matter what the browser width may be, the site adjusts its layout in a way that it is optimized on the screen.

Adaptive websites adapt to the width of the browser at a specific point.

The website is only concerned about the browser being at a specific width, at which point it adapts the layout.

Another point to notice is the difference between responsive and adaptive design is smooth and snap design.

Responsive design is smooth because the layout fluidity adjusts regardless of what device it is viewed on.

The adaptive design fits into place because the page is serving something different because of the browser or the device on which it is viewed.

The difference between responsive and adaptive design goes deeper than the explanation above.

Responsive design is a means of becoming device doubter in the sense that it seeks to create an optimized experience for any screen.

Compared to adaptive design,  it is neither fluid nor flexible but looks for specific points on which to adapt.

Both responsive and adaptive designs are the same for methods dealing with the reality that we often view websites on different devices in a different context.

The web design is responsive. It need not adapt to any devices until a designer designs it.

If you are looking into a responsive design, the best thing to do is to practice on it.