Responsive Web Design
William
In Accessibility, Off Topic, Philosophy, Web Design, Web Development Posted August 01, 2011
I got my copy of A List Apart’s book on Responsive Web Design and it’s a great way to get into thinking about responsive Web techniques. Ethan Marcotte does a great job of guiding readers through a simple, clean example of manipulation starting at the flexible grid level, moving through flexible images, and finally rounding out at media queries.
The book is small, short, and to the point – this means that it’s not an end-all-be-all to responsive techniques but rather guiding readers through ways to make their sites future ready. With more and more traffic coming from mobile devices, Ethan recommends a philosophy of “Mobile First”. This doesn’t mean think about what functionality needs to get cut, in fact quite the oposite: think about mobile habits, design for their use cases, and you will improve the overall usability of the site.
There’s a lot of overall philosophy to the book, but it’s a great introduction to some techniques that are easy to master and fun to play with. I feel that there might be some elements lacking (how to handle heights, break points, etc.) but overall the book keeps readers engaged. Ethan Marcotte has an easy style and the book is peppered with links to resources as well as large figures to illustrate key points. Get responsive.
