I find myself needing to write every day. The swirl of ideas and realizations are vast and without some expressive outlet. So, I’m giving myself 15 minutes today to write something of value. Here goes.
Responsiveness is a “thing” in websites and in life.
Website design demanded responsive design about a dozen years ago. That is, the layout of any given page changes in direct response to the viewer’s device. So, the website will look one way on a desktop computer, another way on an iPad and still another on a phone screen. Of course, whatever browser you use will cause further changes in the way the website looks. There are thousands of permutations.
I think designers are typically thought of as “serving up” one thing, the same for everyone. But what designers really do, is now “serve up” a mathematically sound, relationship-oriented set of boxes of information in a way that would make sense and look good to the majority of people.
Here’s an old school website: pre-responsive design. You’d need to pinch and scroll all over the place to see the whole thing and read the words. Fonts were one size, and would also display depending on the browser settings you had.
No matter what screen you were looking at, it pretty much looked the same… that is, until you focused in on what you wanted to read. You, the viewer, did the work.
And, then, along came responsive design (Thank you for this hot-linked image below from SHAMINKO DESIGN). Responsive design required the maker to consider every possible viewer’s POV and screen size, and design so that the website would be readable and look okay in all environments. Also, font sizes became static “kind of,” being always readable without pinching. But the page layout itself maneuvered from a left to right set of information you could control (like above), to stacking boxes. The breakpoint of when a stack would happen was determined by standard screen sizes, and math.
I’m already nearly out of time, but I’d like for you to consider being a designer for ever-changing viewers and ever-changing orientations and various screen sizes, from the panoramic multi-screen desk-tied nerdy folks like me to the mobile surfer on a second-world flip phone.
Yeah, design is a thing.
Yeah, caring about the viewer and all their permutations in “web sight” is a thing
Yeah, it’s complicated.
You’re welcome. 20 minutes and DONE! (Fibonacci graphic was made yesterday)