Oh, okay. Got it. I’m not really up on all the latest terminology. I know about Bootstrap, but I don’t know how to use it. I’ve heard that it is quite complex, though that may be false.
I have used Joomla!, which I understand incorporates Bootstrap. I only have one live Joomla! site online at present. It adjusts quite nicely to mobile device size without me even thinking about it. But, again, I don’t like being locked into themes and trying to modify them. I know you can learn to create your own Jooml! theme, and I looked into it once and went through a tutorial, but have not yet created one.
I have always built my sites from scratch; i.e., I make my own template from a design I have in my head. I use a lot of PHP .(though I’m far from an expert in PHP). The PHP allows me to reuse the same template for other sites with only minor modifications. I’m a reseller host, so I host what I sell Always nice to have those annual renewals just when you need the $$
It’s quite simple to use, but there is a lot to it if you really delve into it. However, their documentation is amazing, and we have a few framework experts here who can assist you in those questions. It’s quite easy to use once you get it implemented.
I’ll definitely have to look into it. I took the plunge a number of years back and downloaded and installed Apache, PHP & MySQL (as separate programs, not WAMP) and now it all just seems second nature. I’m sure I could figure this out as well.
I need to learn this, because I need to start making some money, which was my intent. This was to be my retirement career!
I’m glad you brought this issue up because I often feel the same way. The features you mention are intuitive for me on my mobile device, presumably because I’ve spent my adult life using it to view content. But when I view sites - The Toronto Star, for example has recently changed their desktop version - like that on a large screen, it doesn’t have the same intuitive feel for me.
I also question how this affects a wider demographic in terms of UX. Is it intuitive for the general population to understand what the “hamburger” indicates? Seems like it would make more sense on a desktop to actually label things.
I think there’s a reason we have a choice between viewing content on a mobile device vs a desktop, but it seems we don’t always have that control anymore.
I’m interested to see everyone’s response. Again, I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels this way. Thanks so much!
I think it’s mobile first approach that ruins everything. Actually people design for mobile and forget about desktop at all. Basically a mobile version scaled up to desktop browser. That’s why it’s looks and feels ugly. It’s a big work to make a site look cool on all platforms. If it’s too complicated on desktop, it’s hard to rearrange things for mobile, keeping all necessary features, just ok for mobile may look way too simple as mentioned before. Imo design should be done in both directions meaning you design for desktop, then for mobile, if something on mobile looks bad - try to make it more clear on desktop but just a bit since we try to build a functional mobile version from desktop rather then vice versa:)
This is not RWDs fault this is a fault of the designer not designing for the differing situations. Many sites have a full blown text menu that as you get smaller it changes to a burger menu. They have clearly opted not to bother to do that and simply gone with the lowest common denominator i.e. the mobile version of the menu. Which is as @AntonGudkov says is a mobile first approach that has forgotten the desktop part.
