The web has come a long way. One of the great features of the modern web is responsive web design (RWD). RWD allows developers to create a single web client for all devices & platforms. This presentation is an introduction to key concepts developers need to understand in order to start implementing responsive web design.

1. There is No Mobile: An
Introduction to Responsive Web
Design
Chris Love
http://Love2Dev.com
@ChrisLove

3. Who Am I
• ASP.NET MVP
• ASP Insider
• Internet Explorer User Agent
• Author
• Speaker
• Tweaker, Lover of Web, JavaScript, CSS & HTML5
• @ChrisLove
• Love2Dev.com

4. High Performance Single Page Web
Applications
• Responsive Design
• Touch
• Mobile First
• SPA
• Extensible, Scalable Architecture
• Web Build and Workflow
• Goes Really Fast!
• ~395 Pages
• 20 Chapters
• $9.99 http://amzn.to/1a55L89

5. Slide Deck & Source Code
• Slide Deck – http://slidesha.re/19NZInK
• Source Code – http://GitHub.com/docluv

6. Compare Responsive vs Non- Responsive
• Atlanta Journal Constitution – http://ajc.com
• Adaptive – http://m.ajc.com
• Boston Globe – http://bostonglobe.com
• Responsive

11. What is Adaptive?
• Uses Server-Side Device Detection
• WURFL
• Separate Site
• Usually m.<domain>.com
• Requires maintaining 2 Code Bases
• In Theory You Can Make a ‘mobile’ optimized version
• In Reality A PITA
• Often 3rd party solution that scraped full site for content

12. “this unspoken agreement to pretend that we had a certain size. And
that size changed over the years. For a while, we all sort of tacitly
agreed that 640 by 480 was the right size, and then later than changed
to 800:600, and 1024; we seem to have settled on this 960 pixel as
being this like, default. It’s still unknown. We still don’t know the size of
the browser; it’s just like this consensual hallucination that we’ve all
agreed to participate in: “Let’s assume the browser has a browser
width of at least 960 pixels.”
Jeremy Keith
bit.ly/1bhH6rw

13. “The emergence of ideas like “responsive design” and “future-friendly
thinking” are in part a response to the collective realization that
designing products that solve one problem in one context at a time is
no longer sustainable. By refocusing our process on systems that are
explicitly designed to adapt to a changing environment, we have an
opportunity to develop durable, long-lasting designs that renew their
usefulness and value over time.”
Wilson Miner
bit.ly/1fbq5lB

16. “Any attempt to draw a line around a particular device class has as
much permanence as a literal line in the sand. Pause for a moment and
the line blurs. Look away and it will be gone.
Let’s take the absolute best case scenario. You’re building a web app for
internal users for whom you get to specify what computer is purchased
and used. You can specify the browser, the monitor size, keyboard, etc.”
Jason Grigsby
bit.ly/KzJH9G

17. “How long do you think that hardware will be able to be found? Three years
from now when a computer dies and has to be replaced, what are the
chances that the new monitor will be a touchscreen?
By making a decision to design solely for a “desktop UI”, you are creating
technical debt and limiting the longevity of the app you’re building. You’re
designing to a collective hallucination. You don’t have to have a crystal ball
to see where things are headed.
And once you start accepting the reality that the lines inside form factors are
as blurry as the lines between them, then responsiveness becomes a
necessity.”
Jason Grigsby
bit.ly/KzJH9G

20. Responsive Web Design
• Introduced by Ethan Marcotte 2010 - bit.ly/178an9e
• Web Design Approach To Create An Optimal Viewing Experience
Across All Browser ViewPorts
• Fluid Layouts
• Media Queries
• Minimal if any JavaScript Required

21. Mobile First
• Determine The Most Important Information
• Expand From There
• Start Responsive Design Mobile First

22. Fluid Layout
• Stretch as the Browser ViewPort Changes
• Browser’s Viewable Area Inside the Chrome
• Serve as the Foundation for the Web Application Layout
• Great Way To Create Native Like Experience

24. Media Queries
@media (min-width: 600px) {
/* Selectors & Rules */
}
@media (min-width: 820px) {
/* Selectors & Rules */
}
@media (min-width: 1080px) {
/* Selectors & Rules */
}

25. Responsive Navigation
• Use Media Queries to Optimize Rendering
• Show and Hide Content Based on ViewPort Dimensions
• Create A Mobile Friendly View
• Optimize for Large Screens Without Device Detection

27. Responsible Web Design
• Practice of Providing Appropriate Content by Context
• Primarily to Limit Image and Content Affects over Mobile
• Can Involve JavaScript
• Can Also be Used as a Design Technique

28. matchMedia
• Allows You To Bind JavaScript Callbacks to MediaQuery Breakpoints
• Available in All Modern Browsers (IE 10+)
• Eliminated Need to Bind to Resize Event

29. matchMedia
window.matchMedia("(min-width: 400px)").addListener(function (e) {
if(e.matches)
{
console.info("the view port is at least 400 pixels wide");
}else{
console.info("the view port is not at least 400 pixels wide");
}
});

31. The Image Problem
• Images Account for Majority of Downloaded Content
• Screen Diversity Means Variety of Image Sizes & Quality
• Screen Size
• Screen Resolution
• Bandwidth Consideration
• Art Direction

32. The Image Problem – Proposed Solutions
• Picture Element –
• Already Killed
• No Wait It is Racing to Standardization Now
• Srcset –
• Current Specification Path
• No It looks Dead Now
• Src-N –
• New Comer
• Yesterday’s News

33. The Image Problem – Read More
• http://responsiveimages.org/
• http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/responsive/picture-element/

34. PICTURE ELEMENT
<picture>
<source media="(min-width: 650px)" srcset="images/kitten-large.
png">
<source media="(min-width: 465px)" srcset="images/kitten-medium.
png">
<!-- img tag for browsers that do not support picture element -->
<img src="images/kitten-small.png" alt="a cute kitten">
</picture>

35. The Image Problem –What To Do Now?
• Use Nested Elements
• CSS background-image
• Display: none
• JavaScript Hacks?????
• Legacy Browsers Use Core Site

37. Thank You!
• Responsive Design
• Touch
• Mobile First
• SPA
• Extensible, Scalable Architecture
• Web Build and Workflow
• Goes Really Fast!
• ~395 Pages
• 20 Chapters
• $9.99 http://amzn.to/1a55L89