I recently started using Tailwind CSS and I notice it states (and recommends) to use unprefixed classes for mobile and prefixed classes for larger screens.
This is in contrast to Bootstrap which does the exact opposite.
What are the pros and cons of those mobile-first approach?
Quoting bootstrap 5.0 official documentation here
Mobile first, responsive design is the goal. Bootstrap’s CSS aims to apply the bare minimum of styles to make a layout work at the smallest breakpoint, and then layers on styles to adjust that design for larger devices. This optimizes your CSS, improves rendering time, and provides a great experience for your visitors.
Pretty much all the CSS frameworks use that kind of approach nowadays.
It's always easier to have some basic layout for smaller screen resolutions and bigger one adapted w/ some additional styling.
Also, this website is saying that 55.73% of the web traffic is mobile. Even the 41.46% of desktop stats do have some small enough resolutions to fit styling considered as "mobile" (like the 1280x720 one).
TLDR: make your website look good for the biggest amount of users possible with as less styling as possible, then apply specific CSS for wider resolutions.
I don't know any specific cons of starting by a mobile version but maybe the case in which your webapp is targeted towards an admin kind of layout, who will be used 95% of the time on a desktop.
Related
I'm planning to write a common component library with Vue.js 2.0 and hope the library can work on multiple platforms. This question is about the best practices when it comes to a component's style.
On the PC / browser, We usually write CSS for fixed-width or flow layout with px. On a mobile platform (webview or browser), We usually write the CSS for flexible layout with vw / rem.
I see, some components only suit either one ( PC or mobile platform ), but still some components are common and versatility, such as Button, GridView, InputField and so on.
For example, there is a Button component that has a default padding style. In order to better adaptability, should I set the padding value by what unit? px? rem? For the goal, what is the best practice to do the things?
In fact, this question is not only related to Vue, but it's relevant for any frameworks that allows developing components, such as: React, Angular, Ember, etc.
I suggest that you stop thinking of browser / PC layout and mobile apps as being different. As it looks, you can't be sure what form factor's going to come next for both of them. That's true even for platforms that have been proven to be consistent, such as iPhone / iOS.
Responsive web design is the same in both environments, your layouts should be 'prepared' for a change in form factor.
Responsive web design is not different from React to Angular or anything in between. The only thing that differs is how CSS actually gets in your app.
No matter what you're designing for, you should:
Respond to the needs of the users and the devices they're using. The layout changes based on the size and capabilities of the device.
The basic principles are: Adapt, respond, and overcome.
Technical perspective
In Vue the way to go is: isolate components, including styles -> use scoped styles whenever possible <style scoped></style>.
Then (not specific to Vue), use fluid layouts however you want; some people choose %, some use vh / vw or em / rem. As long as it's fluid, you'll probably be fine. Many choose vh / vw for containers and use percentages afterwards, but there's no default pattern. With percentages, some people find it easier to mix in calc(), which can be a useful responsive tool.
Regarding your button example, it's probably a good idea to use rem or em as a default. However, for some components it might make sense to use px - don't be afraid to mix and match. This can save you a lot of code and there's no golden rule about it.
Your breakpoints shouldn't be shaped after devices, instead figure out where your content can be presented better. This way you'll build a more future-proof layout, which can turn out to be a nightmare to maintain.
Choose whatever makes you feel comfortable.
It's up to you to combine your tools and get the CSS to work for you / follow certain RWD patterns.
Wrap up
That being said, here are some patterns you can follow when building your responsive apps:
Mostly Fluid
Column Drop
Layout Shifter
Tiny Tweaks
Off Canvas
There's a course I encourage you to take if still in doubt.
In this course you'll learn the fundamentals of responsive web design with Google's Pete LePage! You'll create your own responsive web page that works well on any device - phone, tablet, desktop or anything in between. It might feel a bit slow in the beginning, but you'll learn a lot by the end of it.
Is it possible to remove mobile first approach in bootstrap and use regular desktop first? Basically from desktop to tablet to mobile, as it used to be.
I want to keep the responsive features, but when creating media queries to target smaller devices, I want to go from desktop > tablet > mobile. Do I need to edit some files?
Bootstrap was completely built in that 'mobile first' mindset.. It wouldn't be a simple thing to make changes on that scale. If you want to use desktop first, as it used to be, I would recommend just using the older versions of bootstrap.
You can find Bootstrap 2 here:
http://getbootstrap.com/2.3.2/
If I'm not mistaken, that one uses the desktop first approach.
I'm not sure I would use the terms Desktop first, or mobile first, as IMHO they are not really representative of what bootstrap is.
Bootstrap 2.3.2 (as to what has been mentioned as Desktop first) did not have responsive features built in, you had to 'turn them on' by including an additional CSS file (bootstrap-responsive.cs I do believe).
I wouldn't have called this Desktop first, simply that the base CSS had limited flexibility for different screen sizes.
They changed that paradigm in Bootstrap 3, now you do not need to include an additional CSS file for the responsive features, it is all included So I wouldn't call this a Mobile first approach, but an approach that is flexible for different screen sizes, regardless of the device, weather it be Desktop Tablet, Mobile, Projector, etc, I would say more its more device agnostic approach.
Now you say you still want the responsive features (so reverting to Bootstrap 2 without the responsive CSS you would lose the responsive), so is there something specific you seem to be concerned about with Bootstrap 3 that would somehow be of hindrance?
Ultimately the CSS simply rendered based on the screen size, I wouldn't call it a Mobile First, Then Desktop then Tablet approach at all, simply responsive to the screen size.
I'm just now diving into responsive CSS and design, and I'm wondering how I'm supposed to figure out various device widths out. I don't want to spend all day testing every single mobile device possible, I just want to get the responsive layout enough to where it works.
I saw some sites using #media only screen and (max-device-width: xx) but it seems that limits it to very specific resolutions, not actual browser window sizes.
Any advice at all would be great. I'm not new to web development or CSS, but totally new to responsive design.
It would seem that you're trying to figure out where and when to apply your breakpoints.
Rather than testing resolution on a bunch of devices why not build a responsive design that is acceptable at every resolution? There are no magic breakpoints that fix responsive websites for every device because every responsive website is going to differ depending on layout, content, etc. and there are tons of different devices with varying resolutions.
You might be thinking, "what the hell, I am not going to go pixel by pixel and check my website," but that's not really what I mean.
Finding your website's breakpoints:
Jump into a browser, navigate to your website, and open the console
Resize the viewport to a very low resolution. 320px is a good starting point.
(Note: To get the size of the viewport type window.innerWidth in console. See Resources for more ways to enhance debugging your design)
Analyze your layout. How does it look at this resolution? If you need to change the layout at this resolution then its time to add a breakpoint!
Slowly stretch the browser window until something breaks or looks horrible. At this point you'll need to insert another breakpoint.
Repeat step 4 to your heart's content
Keep in mind:
The point of responsive design isn't to make your site look good on all devices, its to make your content look good anywhere - Sam Richards
Resources:
Responsive Web Design - Programming with Anthony
Responsive Typography
Logical Breakpoints For Your Responsive Design
As mentioned in the above video, Modernizr is an awesome JS library that helps in detecting device-specific features
Responsive Design View Feature in Firefox 15+
Responsive Design View Tutorial for Chrome
I am building a responsive layout with Twitter Bootstrap and I am finding it difficult to keep the layout looking good across all sizes/devices.
In my early attempts I tried simply using the grid for placement, but page elements never ended up where I wanted them at different sizes. Now I am at the point where I am using media queries to override some of Bootstrap's styles and my own styles. This seems like it may cause a maintenance headaches down the road.
Rather than overriding styles I am thinking that I should add/remove the styles based on the screen's size by registering for media query events.
Can someone offer advice on good practices for adjusting the layout of a page at different screen sizes using Bootstrap?
I am looking for general advice, but I can post code and screenshots if that will help.
Update: Looks like media query events are not well supported.
Your on the right track. Use CSS media Queries. Firefox has a nice add on that enables you to adjust the page to a particular viewport so that you can see the changes pixel by pixel, though Im sure chrome would have something similar
There are no special tricks just because its bootstrap, as long as you have enabled the responsive stylesheet then you are pretty much good to go
This is a good place to start for media queries
http://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/media-queries-for-standard-devices/
I've just finished reading yiibu's slideshow on their responsive site development for nokia, and one of the larger points of it seems to be to focus on mobile first, then desktops and other larger and faster platforms. ( http://www.slideshare.net/yiibu/pragmatic-responsive-design ) Not just in the planning phase, but literally develop your responsive design in the sense that the innitial styles, with no media queries applied, will be the design for your smallest platform, with the lowest capabilities. (older phones, depending on your audience) Which is backwards from what I've innitially thought to do (and from what I've seen, what others usually do as well).
The rationale was that this method would prevent people on mobile devices with lower bandwidth from downloading additional scripts and large images, by innitially downloading only the scripts and images needed for the minimum device, then loading more, and more, depending on the size and predicted capabilities of the device, eventually putting the most burden on the largest devices (laptops and desktop computers). --- This being contrary to what I've been doing, which is designing for the desktop, then adding media queries to optimize for mobile devices.
My question is, do I need to design for mobile first, then add media queries to optimize for larger devices with more capabilities in order to prevent the burden of downloading large images that wont be used on mobile devices?
.....Or can I just use sepparate stylesheets and call to a mobile stylesheet before calling to a stylesheet focused on larger browsers/devices?
The order of who you call first or not, shouldn't matter. The media queries by themselves are a bunch of if-else based on the criteria you place in them (device, orientation, width, etc). So by adding them first or last won't mean that a mobile phone will consider a style sheet for a desktop browser (example).
What you should do though, is to have the base stuff that is consistent across ALL devices (such as typography, font-sizes, background colors of elements, text color) on a base stylesheet that is readable to all devices.
This makes the actual reading of the file smaller as a specific stylesheet will be made for margins, paddings and widths depending on the actual size of the screen.
Last but not least, as to whether you should design the experience for mobile first or not, it's up to you, your way of working and what not. I know I don't. I design for desktop first and work my way down. I much prefer this.