Responsive Design

[webguys]

We are in an era of multiple devices for browsing websites. What are people's thoughts on responsive design?

[ralph.m]

What sort of thoughts do you mean? That's a wide open question. Obviously, many people have posted thoughts in blogs etc. Personally, while I kind of like rd, I can see why some people don't. I know some devs who hate to have the site reflow on different devices. They prefer to zoom in to see what they want. On balance, I prefer the layout to be optimized for the device I'm on, though I hate to have some content unavailable.

The best thing about rd and designing for mobiles is that they've made people realize their desktop sites are full of a lot of unnecessary junk. I hope that the effect will be to stop people loading their sites with this unnecessary content, rather than just use display: none on the mobile version.

This Tweet is a classic:

“Mobile users want to see our menu, hours, and delivery number. Desktop users definitely want this 1mb png of someone smiling at a salad.”

[webguys]

Hi Ralph.m. Great tweet quote!

I agree that there are some differences of opinion when it comes to RD. Not that long ago we did not have to think about rd but now that viewing the web on mobile devices (according to some stats - but certainly is approaching) has surpassed desktop, globally, we have to start thinking about rd more seriously for the right clients. I think it should be a choice that clients have that is available to them, if they so decide.

I really like your statement:

The best thing about rd and designing for mobiles is that they've made people realize their desktop sites are full of a lot of unnecessary junk. I hope that the effect will be to stop people loading their sites with this unnecessary content, rather than just use display: none on the mobile version.

[shamshadali]

The practice of designing and developing a website to be flexible to open in all kinds of devices without any hindrance refers to responsive web design. The screen size, platform, resolution and orientation of the device does not prove to be problematic in opening a website. The user agent refers to the device you are opening your website in, such as a mobile phone, iPad, Desktop, Laptop, Palmtop, iPhone, etc. Your website accommodates to your device.