It will be interesting to see how much the term comes to symbolize in the future. Mobile-first approach, progressive enhancement, and unobtrusive JavaScript are current principles that will certainly carry over into the new year. There are, however, other associated ideas which have become more or less synonymous with RWD. These cornerstones form the foundation of what we understand as Responsive Web Design. Different styles are applied according to a number of device specific qualities such as screen width, height, orientation, etc.

Media queries– A CSS3 module that controls how the styles within the media attribute are applied.

Another method is to set the width as a percentage of the width of the page as a whole. To avoid slow loading times, designers can compress the images’ resolutions when displayed on smaller devices.

In layman’s terms, this prevents images from being larger than the grids in which they’re placed while also allowing images to resize without sacrificing any of their aspect ratio. Usually these are images placed within a flexible grid that has the max-width CSS rule applied at 100 percent. Flexible images– Any visual content or media that adjusts to fit a user’s screen size.This grid is used to structure content in a predictable and consistent manner by adjusting the size and positioning of the elements contained within. Fluid grids– An arrangement or organization of content lacking a fixed width, which is composed of intersecting vertical and horizontal lines.Responsive web design in 2015 is already going beyond this definition, but it is still traditionally recognized by three primary concepts described in Responsive Design Best Practices: Essentially, it’s a design that can attractively acclimate to any screen resolution.

What is responsive web design?Īs the name suggests, Responsive Web Design responds to the user’s viewport, device, or platform. Moreover, the increasing variety of devices and screen sizes require designs to be more flexible than ever before.Īnd while there were once multiple options for serving mobile users, such as m-dot sites or heavy reliance on mobile applications, the most relevant research to date shows that these solutions just aren’t as consistent or as cost effective as a responsive design. Photo credit: Responsive Design CheatsheetĪs mobile browsing outpaced desktop usage in 2014 with statistics predicting a continuing increase, a website must have a mobile strategy in place in order to succeed.

Extra strength responsive grids