Responsive Web Design 101

All the mathematics involved in creating a responsive website design can be exhausting and time consuming, but thankfully there’s a range of responsive frameworks available that make the process quick and easy. These frameworks or boilerplates have all the complicated grids, layouts and media queries in place ready for you to add your own design and markup. Here’s a roundup of the most popular frameworks currently being used by designers.

To date, web designers often simply outsource the work of coding a responsive site after first using something like Photoshop or Illustrator to create the design itself, or they use frameworks like Twitter’s Bootstrap or Zurb’s Foundation for front-end development. But Webflow is different, in that it not only offers a visual editor which lets you drag-and-drop, customize responsive layouts, and define CSS styles for each device you want to support, but you can also publish your site immediately upon completion.

Responsive web design is undoubtedly a rapidly growing trend right now, the increasing tablet and mobile device usage has definitely been an ingredient in the success of web responsiveness. It would not be surprising to see the majority of popular websites adapt responsive web designs in the near future. Responsive websites not only enhance the user experience when viewed on tablets or mobiles, but it is mind-blowingly cool to see designs adapt to the size of a browser window as you resize it. I've compiled some of the best examples of responsive web design for inspiration. Check them out below and let us know your opinions.

A talk by Laura Kalbag (@laurakalbag). It’s all too easy to get caught up in fancy new web development techniques and forget that the responsive approach also requires a different mindset during the design process. Focusing on design principles for multiple devices, and discussing how we can fit responsive design into our process, I want to help break down the walls we’ve been hitting with concepts, clients and our own creativity.

How people access the Internet is changing. No longer are users restricted to desktop and laptop computers. Today, people consume information from a variety of sources and devices. The introduction of smart phones and tablets has changed how developers design and implement web sites and internet databases. Responsive Web Design meets these changes and takes development to a completely new level.

As the way we use the internet has evolved, the philosophy of most online businesses has become increasingly customer-centric. Brick and mortar businesses have always known that this is the secret to…

GPS, social functions and more. Do you want fries with that?

Publishers are in love with responsive design. But every new relationship has its challenges.

The concept that launched a thousand site redesigns. For years, web designers have coveted print for its precision layouts, lamenting the varying user contexts on the web that compromise their designs. Responsive design advocates that we shift our design thinking to make a virtue of these constraints. Using fluid grids, flexible images, and media queries to embrace the ebb and flow of the web.

From mobile browsers to netbooks and tablets, users are visiting your sites from an increasing array of devices and browsers. Are your designs ready? Learn how to think beyond the desktop and craft beautiful designs that anticipate and respond to your users’ needs. Ethan Marcotte will explore CSS techniques and design principles, including fluid grids, flexible images, and media queries, demonstrating how you can deliver a quality experience to your users no matter how large (or small) their display.

The latest from Responsive Design (@RWD). This is where Ethan Marcotte (@beep) curates link-y things about responsive design. He also wrote a book on the topic: http://beep.fm/x/e7

A collection of inspirational websites using media queries and responsive web design. Curated by Eivind Uggedal (@uggedal).

Responsive design: mobile app not required

Tablets and mobile phones are rapidly overtaking and sprinting past the desktop browser in terms of usage. Ning 3.0 was built using responsive design and HTML5, resulting in beautiful design and fan experiences on any device – smartphone, tablet or laptop.

Mashable's new design is responsive, and that's something you're going to see a lot more of soon.

2012 has been a very unusual year in the PC market. For the first time since 2001, PC sales are projected to be lower than they were in the previous year.

So which devices are consumers buying? Tablets, for one thing.

Tablet sales are expected to exceed 100 million this year. Their sales numbers may top notebooks next year. Smartphones, of course, are also a hot commodity — according to Nielsen, the majority of U.S. mobile subscribers now own smartphones, not feature phones.

Meanwhile, the shift to mobile is happening at an extraordinary speed. Today, 30% of Mashable's traffic is mobile. By the end of next year, this may exceed 50%.

If you're viewing this article on a desktop browser, for example, try making your browser window smaller. The images and content column will shrink, then the sidebar will disappear altogether. On our homepage, you'll see the layout shrink from three columns, to two columns, to a singular column of content.

In the case of Mashable, we also detect the type of device and change the site's behavior accordingly. On touch devices, for instance, we enable swiping between columns. (Technically, detecting device functionalities may be referred to as "adaptive design," rather than "responsive," but increasingly both approaches are used in tandem.)

The benefits are obvious: You build a website once, and it works seamlessly across thousands of different screens.

Learn what responsive Web Design is and how to use it, how to deal with media queries and adapt responsive Web Design techniques, tools and strategies.

In this overview you will find the most useful and popular articles we have published on Smashing Magazine on Responsive Web Design.
Quick Overview

- Design Process In The Responsive Age
- Responsive Web Design: What It Is and How To Use It
- A Foot On The Bottom Rung: First Forays Into Responsive Web Development
- Techniques For Gracefully Degrading Media Queries
- Responsive Web Design Techniques, Tools and Design Strategies
- How To Use CSS3 Media Queries To Create a Mobile Version of Your Website
- Device-Agnostic Approach To Responsive Web Design
- Progressive And Responsive Navigation
- Content Prototyping In Responsive Web Design
- Is There Ever A Justification For Responsive Text?