Responsive web design
Responsive web design (RWD) comprises a set of techniques for creating web pages which respond to a wide range of devices.
Contents
Range of device sizes
- Desktop computer monitors
- Laptop computers
- Tablets
- Mobile phones
RWD provides for easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling.
Design principles
A site designed with RWD adapts the layout to the viewing environment by using:
- Fluid, proportion-based CSS grids
- Proportion-based images
- Media queries
Fluid Grid
The fluid grid concept calls for page element sizing to be in relative units like percentages, rather than absolute units like pixels or points.
Proportion-based images
Flexible images are also sized in relative units, so as to prevent them from displaying outside their containing element.
Media queries
Media queries allow the page to use different CSS style rules based on characteristics of the device the site is being displayed on, most commonly the width of the browser.
Bootstrap framework
You can write your responsive web pages from scratch, but I recommend starting with a framework, such as Bootstrap.
See also
- Bootstrap (framework)
- Bootstrap responsive image
- Media queries
- Web browser width
- Web design
- Web usability
