The control which designers know in the print medium,

and often desire in the web medium, is simply a function

of the limitation of the printed page. We should embrace

the fact that the web doesn’t have the same constraints,

and design for this flexibility. But first, we must “accept

the ebb and flow of things.”

—John Allsopp, “A Dao of Web Design”

The Ghost of Web Design Past• Fixed width sites

• Desktop only browsing

• Design for the fold

• 56k—Bee-boop...screetch!

The Ghost of Web Design Present• Multiple formats and screen sizes

• Browse anywhere: Home, office, mobile

• Higher overall bandwidths

• User responsiveness and participation

ResponsiveWeb Design

enter

Fluid Web Design

or better yet,

• Adapting the layout to suit different screen sizes, from widescreen desktops to tiny phones

• Resizing images to suit the screen resolution

• Serving up lower-bandwidth images to mobile devices

• Simplifying page elements for mobile use

• Hiding non-essential elements on smaller screens

• Providing larger, finger-friendly links and buttons for mobile users

• Detecting and responding to mobile features such as geolocation and device orientation.

The Basics of Responsive Web Design

foodsense.is

Desktop > iPad

• Side navigation items shift to top for iPad

• Tabbed items under photo reduce in size

• Recent tweet and other left side elements are removed

foodsense.is

Desktop > iPhone/Mobile

• Orients to a single column

• Navigation reverts to text only

• 4 buckets stack each other

cacaotour.com

Desktop > iPad

• Large image is removed to accommodate more important elements

• Navigation shifts

• Other home page elements reordered

Desktop > iPhone/Mobile

• Orients to a single column

• Navigation stacks and is center on the home screen

cacaotour.com

bostonglobe.com

Desktop > iPad

• 3 columns down to 2, columns more even width

• Navigation shifts

• Ads and other support elements moved

bostonglobe.com

Desktop > iPad

• 3 columns down to 2, columns more even width

• Navigation shifts

• Ads and other support elements moved

bostonglobe.com

Desktop > iPhone/Mobile

• Orients to a single column

• Navigation changed

• Search feature reduced

• Center column becomes main

bostonglobe.com

Desktop > iPhone/Mobile

• Don’t forget the orientation flip!

work in GRIDS• Start from wireframing stage • Think proportion and hierarchy: What

elements should always be larger/bolder/more attention then others

• Helps the developers, speeds up development time through CSS

• Helps to keep elements aligned and sized correctly for transition into other formats