Creating a Mobile-First Responsive Web Design Introduction We're going to walk through how to create an adaptive web experience that's designed mobile-first. This article and demo will go over the following: There is even more up to date responsive guidance on our new Web Fundamentals site. Why we need to create mobile-first, responsive, adaptive experiences How to structure HTML for an adaptive site in order to optimize performance and prioritize flexibility How to write CSS that defines shared styles first, builds up styles for larger screens with media queries, and uses relative units How to write unobtrusive Javascript to conditionally load in content fragments, take advantage of touch events and geolocation What we could do to further enhance our adaptive experience The Need for Adaptivity As the web landscape becomes increasingly complex, it's becoming extremely important to deliver solid web experiences to a growing number of contexts. However, mobile context is much more than just screen size. View the demo Structure Style Less JS
Simon Foster | Blog | The Responsive Designer I had the pleasure to speak at Web Expo Guildford on Friday 12th October, and it was received very well despite my nervousness (it was my first speaking engagement at a web conference) and the fact that I forgot about half the points I was going to make. So I figured I’d write a quick overview of my talk and include some of the slides as well. You can see the video of my talk on vimeo. The name of my talk was “The Responsive Designer” and it focused on how my own experiences with working responsively and how the lessons I’ve learnt and the conclusions I’ve made have made me a better designer. One major conclusion (if you can call it that) that I’ve had is that if we as designers are making our sites so that they respond or adapt to whatever device or screen size is thrown at them, then shouldn’t we as designers also be as adaptive or responsive when working on our projects? Addendum So how do we do that? Anticipate change and expect the unexpected. Colophon
A Three Step Guide to Usability on the Mobile Web Designing mobile sites is a different kind of web design. Much like your first experience of designing for the desktop web, it can be both exhilarating and daunting in equal measures. So many possibilities, yet so many usability restrictions. Don't panic, we've been there too. This paper is our "101" guide to getting your design and usability principles right. We'll start by setting some mobile web design rules to live and die by... Five Rules for Designing Usable Mobile Web Sites 1: The mobile web is mobile2: Context is king3: The devices are (very) different4: Forget your dotcom thinking. Rule 1: The Mobile Web is Mobile Never overlook the obvious. Rule 2: Context is King When it comes to usability, context is everything. This point is critical to the success of your mobile site: your can no longer account for where your users are accessing your site from. Rule 3: The devices are (very) different Mobile devices are, of course, very different to desktop and laptop computers. Limit choices.
What We've Learned About Responsive Design I was nervous when we decided to start doing responsive design. I thought it would completely disrupt our workflow, causing projects to be much more complicated, stressful, and far less profitable. Fortunately, that hasn't happened. It's not that it hasn't required us to make changes to our process, or that it's been stress-free. But it hasn't been a disaster, and that's what I tend to expect from change… After a year or so of doing responsive design projects, we've learned a ton, and I've solidified some of my opinions about what we're doing and how we're doing it. In a nutshell, responsive design is really about the nut, not the shell. The more flexible the information, the more variables there are to manage. Responsive design is more work. I've run into the idea that since responsive design is a more efficient mobile solution than creating unique mobile sites or alternate page templates, it is therefore going to be cheaper and simpler than what everyone is expecting. 1. 2. 3.
All about the design – top tips for designing mobile sites and apps from the professionals As mobile devices become increasingly capable and the mobile audience becomes increasingly sophisticated, companies are stretching the bounds of possibility when it comes to mobile sites, native applications and Web apps. It becomes all the more important to consider not just graphical design, but also the physical design of your mobile product. It is essential to know not only who will be using it, but how and where they will be using it. This is the fifth in our series of six app-related articles. The following guide was compiled from the responses of the following mobile design and usability gurus: All these experts spoke at Design for Mobile in Chicago, USA, September, 2010. The anatomy of good mobile design 1) Putting things in context Understand, respect and design for your users' contexts. 2) The mobile context Mobile means ‘on the go’ and ‘away from my desk’. 3) Make the most of the Platform Always design for mobile first – don’t just re-purpose your web site/app.
Responsive Web Design: Clever Tips and Techniques Home | mobiThinking Article View the detailed comparison: What is responsive web design? Responsive web design is a rapidly growing approach to web development wherein webpage layouts respond to their environment. That is to say websites should look good and function well no matter where they’re viewed, be it a desktop computer or mobile phone. Responsive frameworks give developers a baseline for building responsive websites. The setup Each developer on our team tackled a different framework and then reported their findings back to the group. Which frameworks did we test? We focused on the three big responsive frameworks: Twitter Bootstrap ZURB Foundation (version 2 and 3) Skeleton Where are the pages we created? Our comparison actually isn't page specific but we did test real client designs including a recent website launch for Campaign for Action. The surprising results It wasn’t obvious beforehand, but responsive CSS frameworks fall into two categories: Twitter Bootstrap
A Responsive Web Design Tutorial for Beginners This is the second post in a series about Responsive Web Design, described in plain language from a front end designer. In our last post I wrote about three reasons responsive web design is something you should know about. We discussed the problems associated with the traditional method of designing a desktop and mobile version of a website. Essentially, there are just too many mobile devices hitting the market to tailor our websites to view well on them all. The thing I like about problems or challenges is that–if we let them–they make us better people and create space for innovation and solutions that may otherwise never be discovered. Designer and developer Ethan Marcotte was instrumental in solving this problem of device compatibility. In actuality, the problem is still being solved and responsive web design methods, tools and standards are still being developed and refined. Media Queries Responsive design uses a CSS3 feature called media queries. Break Points The Fluid Grid
Responsive webdesign : adapter un site à toutes les résolutions Le Responsive webdesign (conception adaptative ou réactive en français) représente un ensemble de méthodes et techniques permettant d’universaliser un site Web. Qu’il soit consulté sur ordinateur, tablette, e-reader ou mobile, le site ainsi conçu s’adapte automatiquement à la taille de l’écran. Cette évolution très séduisante du Web pose néanmoins certaines questions d’ergonomie et oblige à repenser la conception des sites. Nous abordons dans cet article les objectifs du responsive design, les critères qui doivent décider à le mettre en œuvre, les recommandations de conception et les considérations techniques. Objectifs du responsive webdesign Pour commencer, rien de tel qu’une démonstration. Entrons dans le vif du sujet. Les sites Web sont aujourd’hui consultés sur une multitude d’appareils ayant des résolutions différentes Proposer une seule version du site Web censée s’adapter à tous ces terminaux est utopique. Le site ifttt n’est pas adaptable. Responsive ou versions séparées ?
20 Best Responsive Web Design Examples of 2012 The Boston Globe The largest responsive website to date, The Boston Globe handles loads of content effortlessly, keeping the site intuitive and the content easily accessible on the device of your choice. Smashing Magazine I love this site. I really do. Food Sense Clean layout, beautiful photography and playful iconography made me like this site immediately on my first visit. Andersson Wise Type designer, Jan Tschichold once said, ‘Simplicity of form is never a poverty, it is a great virtue.’ Sphero If you haven’t check out Sphero, you should. CSS Tricks It might be the conspicuous green frog that causes me love this site. Grey Goose The Grey Goose site shows that designing responsively does not limit our designs to columns of fluid text and images on solid backgrounds. New Adventures In Web Design With a name like “New Adventures In Web Design,” one would expect a responsive site for this web design conference. Lancaster University Fundraise.com Web Designer Wall Heathlife London & Partners Fork
7 Essential Books on Responsive Web Design You Do Not Want to Miss For those of you who want to depeen your knowledge and development of Responsive Design technique, we recommend a selection of 7 reference books about it, which you can purchase via the Internet. Of course, the first one we would like to emphasize is the origin of Ethan Marcotte, "Responsive Web Design", published by A List Apart. Smashing Magazine has also undertaken, as always, a great job of editing and reporting with its fantastic collection of books on responsive design techniques. Finally, also noteworthy is Cristian Darie's guide to developing this technique for mobile applications with AJAX and PHP. Responsive Web Design From mobile browsers to netbooks and tablets, users are visiting your sites from an increasing array of devices and browsers. Mobile First Our industry's long wait for the complete, strategic guide to mobile web design is finally over.