i am new to web development. terrible at math as well
i was wondering how does pixels translated from one screen size to the other on a webpage. Say for example, I specify
margin-left: 50px;
if i load this web page in my ipad webview, i measured it (using a ruler software, in px) it is indeed 50px
if i load this webpage in my desktop browser, it is indeed 50px
but when load this webpage in my iphone webview (which takes entire iphone screen), it is measured as 40px, not 50 as i specified.
sure iphone screen is smaller, it needs to do some scaling i guess..? is that right?
how is this conversion done? what is the process? is there some sort of formula?
what does this mean for designers? how do i know the right size i should assign, so the layout does NOT break on all screens?
i generally code on bigger screen first, then see how it runs on the smaller screen. is this the right approach.
i want a good and big answer for #2, can someone please help
Do you have overwritten the margin of body? Some browser have different default values. If you look at the IE6 you will find something like this:
"IE 6 default margin on body is 15px (top and bottom) 10px (left and right)"
It is a good practise to have a css-file with some default values the reset the browser defaults.
I would highly suggest that you look into relative sizes...it will be relative to the device. Check out any article about Responsive Web Design. Hard pixel values are a no-no, if you get the percentages and relative sizes it generally fixes a lot of issues. Now if you are new to web development you will want to do some learning before diving into responsive. You can also probably do a little studying on media queries. Just media query it for a temporary solution.
I would suggest you look into jQuery Mobile and viewports. Basically you need to set everything by percentages not fixed width because each device has different screen size + you need to consider horizontal vs vertical view.
This viewport meta makes sure that the page is sized to 100% of screen width in any case:
<meta name="viewport" content="initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=1">
#media (min-width: 1200px) {
#media (max-width: 980px) {
#media (max-width: 979px) {
#media (min-width: 980px) {
#media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 979px){
#media (max-width: 768px) {
#media (max-width: 767px) {
#media (max-width: 480px) {
Taken from Joomla 3.0
Related
My apologies for writing so much but I wanted to put what I’m doing into context. So I’ll ask my question first:
Why does the HTML and CSS this link to a responsive navbar stop working when I change its “max-width” media queries to “min-width”, pixel-based media queries?
https://osvaldas.info/examples/drop-down-navigation-touch-friendly-and-responsive/#nav
All I need is to understand why I can’t make the HTML and CSS behave exactly the same way with min-width, pixel-based media queries. What do I not get? I’ve been working with Responsive web design and development for a few years. But this clearly proves I don’t understand responsive css the way I need to. I’m coding up a responsive website from scratch for a client of my own without Bootstrap so I can hard-wire my understanding on the principles that Ethan Marcotte sets out in the second edition of Responsive Web Design.
I’m not trying to be lazy by not posting my own code. This is the exact same structure navbar I want to use for the site I’m building, and you can go straight to the relevant HTML and CSS in the above link. I’ve tried making a linked stylesheet of the embedded CSS and HTML in the above link. I’ve injected it into my own site as a separate linked-stylesheet but I’m still running into the same brick wall.
My breakpoints structure in my own stylesheet is:
`/* ====MOBILE FIRST===== */
/* Custom, iPhone Retina */
#media only screen and (min-width: 320 px) {
}
/* Extra Small Devices, Phones */
#media only screen and (min-width: 480 px) {
}
/* Small Devices, Tablets */
#media only screen and (min-width: 768 px) {
}
/* Medium Devices, Desktops */
#media only screen and (min-width: 1024 px) {
}
/* Desktop */
#media only screen and (min-width: 1280 px) {
}`
I also don’t want to have one big monster stylesheet, so I’m trying to link the navbar stylesheet to the main stylesheet, using:
`#import url('mainstyles.css');`
I know that essential css rules for breakpoints must go into specific media queries. But if all the CSS in the above navbar link have to go into all five “min-width” based media queries - that’s just CSS bloat - isn’t it? And too much unnecessary CSS code?
I’ve spent three days on it and I just can’t get the fundamental reason. How do I make the above nav bar BEHAVE EXACTLY THE SAME WAY after changing the “max-width” media queries to “min-width” pixel-based media queries? I’ve tried changing the “width” and all style rules relevant to display to percentages - but it’s not solving the fundamental reason. Many thanks in advance for all advice.
Keith :)
max-width means the query will work up UNTIL the specified width.
min-width means the query will START working at the specified width.
Your first query will work from 320px to 479px. Your second will work from 480px to 767px, and so on (you have no query for 0-319px).
In order to change max-width to min-width you'd need to bump each query down a level (XS would become min-width: 320px, Desktop would become min-width: 1024, etc.)
I've included a simple answer below, as I found, once you get the basics right with Media Queries, its an easy concept to then apply to more complex ideas...
The example below could be used for firstly, a smartphone, then going up to an iPad, then finally a landscape iPad and a desktop device...
#media screen and (max-width: 600px) {
/* Stylings for all devices with screens with a width of 600px or less.*/
}
#media screen and (max-width: 992px) {
/* all screens with a max width of 992px or less */
}
#media screen and (min-width: 992px) {
/* all screens with a width of 992px or higher */
}
Whenever I press ctrl+shift+m to enter responsive design mode in Firefox, it shows the screen dimensions in the upper left, but if I see 992px as the width here and then create this media query:
#media (min-width: 992px) {
/*stuff to happen at 992px*/
}
, the stuff that is supposed to happen at 992px actually happens at 1082px, according to Firefox. Why is this? Is there a way to get Firefox's measurements to match exactly with the results that media queries produce?
Additionally, stuff that is supposed to happen at 768px according to the media query appears to be happening at 838px.
The answer was that the amount of zoom in Firefox messes with the responsive design mode measurements. Apparently, the dimensions shown in responsive design mode aren't the virtual dimensions of the website but are instead the screen dimensions, so they don't change when Firefox is zoomed in or out.
Try this code:
#media (max-width: 992px) {
/*stuff to happen at 992px*/
body{
background: #000;
}
}
Instead of
#media (min-width: 992px) {
/*stuff to happen at 992px*/
}
In Firefox, Make Sure while testing for website responsiveness , the browser zoom setting to be 100% only. It effects the screen width shown to you in RDM (Responsive Design Mode).
I am not sure about others but i got same issue earlier.
I have coded a responsive website, in which I have CSS media queries to detect the screen size(pixels) of the device the user is navigating with.
Just standard medias. Example:
#media (max-width: 1199px){
/*code*/
}
#media (max-width: 991px){
/*code*/
}
#media (max-width: 767px){
/*code*/
}
When I test my website with my mobile, which is a Samsung Galaxy S4 with 1920x1080 pixels my website shows me the mobile version, which is in this case the #media query with a max-width of 767px.
I understand that most things would be too small to read or be seen if my mobile respected exact measures like 12px font size.
So my question is, how do I control which version of my website is shown on high resolution devices, because pixels media queries aren't working in my case.
#media (max-width: 1199px){
/*code*/
}
The max-width property in the media query works a little different. It is not the resolution of the screen. It is equivalent css pixel.
Here are a couple of articles.
A pixel identity crisis.
A pixel is not a pixel is not a pixel.
moz media query page.
If you want to target device resolution you should use
#media all and (max-device-width: 320px) {
}.
max-device-width:This property measures the device-width. If you write css using media query using this it will get a little complex (mobiles tabs and even desktops can have 1080p resolution screens). In order to target device resolutions you might have to look into properties like -device-pixel-ratio , orientation and device-height to give better control of layouts
The problem might be that you didn't include a viewport meta-tag
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width">
I need to do a respponsive website project and Im with some doubts.
Im studying media queries but there are a lot of media queries, there are something like "default media queries" or "common media queries" that we can follow?
After some research Im thinking something about this:
#media only screen and (min-width: 480px) { ... }
#media only screen and (min-width: 600px) { ... }
#media only screen and (min-width: 768px) { ... }
#media only screen and (min-width: 992px) { ... }
#media only screen and (min-width: 1382px) { ... }
Do you think that are a good approach using this media queries?
And do for responsiv design do you think its better use percentages in css or its better using pixels? Im asking this, because the media queries use pixels, so maybe its better dont use percentages?
And for last, I have a computer with full hd resolution and other with 1024 resolution. I have a image that have 300 pixels, in my full hd monitor the image is more smaller than my 1024 computer. I dont understand this, because 300pixels should be 300 pixels always no?
Sorry if I ask many things, but Im with some doubts and its not easy find good and reliable information about this!
I thnk using the media query settings you note will complicate your life because they will make it difficult to target different viewports or window widths.
#media only screen and (min-width: 480px) { ... } will target all widths 480px and above,
#media only screen and (min-width: 600px) { ... } will target all widths 600px and above.
So they will both be fighting for control whenever the viewport is 600px or higher. You could consider something like the following:
/* your default, site-wide settings followed by */
#media only screen and (max-width: 480px) { ... }
#media only screen and (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 600px) { ... }
#media only screen and (min-width: 601px) and (max-width: 768px) { ... }
#media only screen and (min-width: 769px) and (max-width: 992px) { ... }
#media only screen and (min-width: 993px) { ... }
I'm not saying that these are perfect break points, that's often specific to your design. The important bit is the technique you use to target the different viewports.
There are different schools of thought for pixels vs percentages, and both have advantages. If you are getting up-to-speed with responsive design, personally I think it's worth spending time with some of the well established frameworks like Bootstrap or Foundation or Skeleton or one of the many others.
They are all fantastic, they will save you heaps of learning time, give you good cross-browser results, and the more you know, the easier it will be to break away from them when needed.
Good luck!
What's pixel density and how it can help me to understand why the same image can be smaller on my mobile phone than it is on my computer monitor (and vice-versa)?
Let's say that I have a monitor with a 500 x 500 pixels resolution, the screen size of this monitor is 15" diagonally and I have a mobile phone that has the same resolution but it's screen size is 4" diagonally (just an example).
How is it possible to fit the same number of pixels in different screen sizes?
The answer is simple: The pixel is smaller on my phone than it is on my monitor (that's the big difference between Apple's retina display and other displays).
Media Queries...
Take a look in a very simple blog that I've developed last year. Try resizing your browser width to see what happens to the content, images and slideshow.
When the browser/screen width is smaller than 800 pixels, the entire site changes to adapt itself better to smaller screens. This is how I think you should use media queries, instead of creating rules for each device screen size (but not necessarily using 800px nor limiting the content max-width when it's on a big screen).
Note that this is just an example on how you should think about media queries.
here is some reference for you:
about media queries you can read http://bradfrostweb.com/blog/post/7-habits-of-highly-effective-media-queries/ - i love this quote
Start with the small screen first, then expand until it looks like
shit. Time for a breakpoint! -Stephen Hay
basically you should use a fluid layout (you can choose from a variety of css fluid grids you find online) and test your design enlarging and shrinking your browser: when your design "cracks", it's time to add a mediaquery. you don't have readapt the whole website at a certain breakpoint: everything may work ok and you need only to resize the text at that certain width. do so.
about pixel density and resolutionyou can read this useful article: http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2010/04/a_pixel_is_not.html
hope this helps
You should probably stop thinking about the web in pixels and screen sizes.
I can see why it's tempting to use actual device widths as breakpoints for a design, but do keep in mind that those breakpoints will be invalid the very second a new device is released. Or when the user interacts with the site in an unexpected way, such as resizing the text size to their preference.
Use the em unit for your breakpoints. This way, your media queries will trigger correctly even when a user resizes the text size.
Adjust your breakpoints to when your content/layout needs it, not for for specific screen sizes (that said, you should probably not include compact (mobile) navigation above 980-ish pixels, since people with old monitors probably won't understand how to navigate through it).
Write mobile first CSS, as in use min-width for your media queries. This helps you keep your CSS DRY. However that does not mean that you never should use max-width for media queries - there are always scenarios when you want to add styles to smaller screens only. Always avoid repetition.
For your own sanity, use a CSS preprocessor such as SASS, LESS or Stylus. I recently wrote an answer on how to use SASS to get a really comfortable workflow with media queries, click here here to read it.
Pixel density is a complicated topic, but rendered pixels (such as an image, or anything with CSS) aren't the same as actual pixels on a screen - they're normalized to a standard. For that reason, you shouldn't use pixel density to increase the quality of images, you should just increase the width of the image since those additional pixels then will be crammed into place on higher resolution screens.
Pleas Try Following media queries:-
/* Large desktop */
#media (min-width: 1200px) { ... }
/* Portrait tablet to landscape and desktop */
#media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 979px) { ... }
/* Landscape phone to portrait tablet */
#media (max-width: 767px) { ... }
/* Landscape phones and down */
#media (max-width: 480px) { ... }
I'm working on a site and would like scale the contents to scale whenever the browser window is resized. Here's an example of what i'm trying to achieve. Go ahead and re-size the browser to see what i'm after. Can someone tell me how the author achieved this ? Or what this technique is called? I already have a good handle on CSS and know about liquid layouts but the technique used on this site is very distinct. I can't wrap my head around how he managed to scale many portions of the site, even the little picture on the side scales down. Can someone tell me how this is achieved ? I'm really after the concept or the name of the technique. Thanks.
It's known as Responsive Design, and there's a pretty good book on the subject.
In simplest terms, it's taking advantage of media queries to adapt your content for a range of resolutions.
/* targets screens matching the specific sizes */
#media screen
and (min-device-width: 320px)
and (max-device-width: 480px) {
/* css rules here */
}
#media screen
and (min-device-width: 481px)
and (max-device-width: 960px) {
...
}
#media screen and (min-device-width: 961px) {
...
}
The sizes will all very based on how wide your content is and what kind of layout you're using so you'll have to target specific sizes that best fit your needs. Of course there's more to it than that, but there's plenty of resources and tutorials out there.
Here's a link from "A List Apart". They use fluid grids and media queries to make sure the content sizes with the window. The article has code to so you can see what's going on.
i think it's this line that does it, because I checked his css and javascript functions and there's nothing there. Try it out and see if it works.
<meta name="viewport" content="initial-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=1.0,width=device-width">