Are Alternatives to Responsive Web Design Better? (Web design blog task week 11)

So what is the difference between the two web design styles?
Responsive Web Design
responsive is fluid and adapts to the size of the screen no matter what the target device. Responsive uses CSS media queries to change styles based on the target device.
Here’s an example of what it looks like in CSS:

@media (query) {
  /* CSS Rules used when query matches */
}

The pro’s of this design style are:

• Can effectively show information on many resolutions.
• are most effective for the massive amount of people who use mobile more than P.C
• Only have to code for one. “one resolution fits all”

The con’s for this design style are:

• extra css for some details that are at risk of causing trouble in different resolutions are required.
• Isn’t as well suited to each resolution as a fixed layout might be

The main difference between the two is how Adaptive design uses static layouts that are fixed to a certain resolution.

the pro’s for this design style are:

• they are less likely to resize or minimize or break up information the way responsive does.
• they require no extra css

The con’s for this design style are:

• They require you to code for each resolution size
• They will look small or big depending on if the viewer is using a resolution that isn’t suited for by the code.
• takes much more time to do effectively.

The way I see it, responsive web design is the best way to go for most projects. But some projects that are only available on some resolutions (for example apps are only on tablets and mobile) then an adaptive web design could be more effective.

It is all up to your preference though, they both get the job done quite nicely.

references:

https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/layouts/rwd-fundamentals/use-media-queries?hl=en

http://blog.uxpin.com/6439/responsive-vs-adaptive-design-whats-best-choice-designers/

TABLES! WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR!? (Web design blog week 10)

Tables in the past have been used to make complete websites. With boxes in boxes in boxes in boxes in boxes in boxes…. you get the idea…. This method should only be meant to display information clearly on a website, not to make entire websites out of them.

So tabular data should be portrayed in a table, sure. But lets list some things that aren’t good to be used in tables … but still is..

The problem with using tables:

• mixes presentational data in with your content.
  • This makes the file sizes of your pages unnecessarily large, as users must download this presentational data for each page they visit.
  • Bandwidth ain’t free.
• This makes redesigns of existing sites and content extremely labor intensive (and expensive).
• It also makes it extremely hard (and expensive) to maintain visual consistency throughout a site.
• Table-based pages are also much less accessible to users with disabilities and viewers using cell phones and PDAs to access the Web.
  – Adam Pratt; Bill Merikallio

So what is the alternative?

By using structural markup in our HTML documents and Cascading Style Sheets to lay out our pages, we can keep the actual content of our pages separated from the way they are presented.

CSS and positioning is the alternative…. Even bootstrap can be used better then nesting tables.

So why put away your spacer GIF’s and take out your style sheet boy’s, it’s time to make some damn good websites!