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Why Responsive Design Is Not Worth It

170 points by muriithi 14y ago

alan57 14y ago
This is an opinion. People are allowed to have them. The article may make points that some (many) don't agree with, but that doesn't make them not valid. That said, the title of the article inflates the argument.. just a tad.
__abc 14y ago
I couldn't disagree more. Most importantly, I'm not sure it is safe to say users expect an IDENTICAL experience (experience being the most important word) on their mobile as they got from their desktop.
sparebytes 14y ago
I'd read it except the page doesn't fit on my phone... oh the irony.
- muriithi 14y ago
  So would you rather piss off those on small screens, or go the responsive route even if it is not optimal for the small screen. I always wonder how long it will take for tablets and phones to be so ubiquitous that this debate will become moot and you target mobile from the get-go?
  - adamkiss 14y ago
    You kind of already do target mobile – except, of course, professionals quoting wikipedia.
uptown 14y ago
"I am a fan of responsive (or alternative) design in certain situations – for example, when dealing with a web application whose desktop design could not practically be contained within a mobile device’s screen." That's the whole idea.
- heyitsnick 14y ago
  My thoughts exactly. The article can seemingly be reduced to "Responsive design is not worth it (except when it is)"
  - chris_wot 14y ago
    "Responsive design is (often) not worth it"
- skrebbel 14y ago
  Note that the author is a wordpress blogger. He may be referring to traditional web sites more than the average HN'er, to who the entire web consists of apps (and a few blogs over there in the corner). I believe that his point has a lot more merits when considering web sites than when considering web apps. For example, my favourite online newspapers on my cellphone are those which don't default to some half-arsed mobile layout.
  - mistercow 14y ago
    >For example, my favourite online newspapers on my cellphone are those which don't default to some half-arsed mobile layout. Again, that's an argument against bad responsive design, not responsive design in general.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
    - ShirtlessRod 14y ago
      Why do so many responses seem to be "well, that's just a bad example of it"? It reminds me of the similar "well, they're just not a true conservative/liberal".
      - drivebyacct2 14y ago
        So the converse is true instead? eMachines are PCs, thus all PCs suck? Yeah, some responsive web designs suck. Some are good. Raging against all responsive web design is as silly as raging against all grouped and stereotyped things.
webbruce 14y ago
Yeah as a full-time frontend developer this article doesn't hold much water. Responsive designs are a quick and relatively cheap way to get a mobile compatible site going. It help decrease bounce rates and increase conversions as well.
companyhen 14y ago
After building some responsive sites in the past few months, I think Responsive Design is worth the extra effort.
notjustanymike 14y ago
This article lost me the moment he quoted wikipedia to explain responsive design. This is not 8th grade, come up with your own definition if you're such an expert. The rest of article was downhill too. Claiming the full site looks fine on your iPhone is akin to saying "It works on my machine!". It's pretty much a waste of time from top to bottom.
- OhArgh 14y ago
  Yea that annoyed me too. What if I can't afford and iPhone with Retina display?
  - randomdata 14y ago
    Out of curiosity, what cell phone that meets the criteria can you afford? The iPhone 4 seems to go for about $200 used, or "free" if you want to tie it to a cell contract – since you are buying a cell phone, that seems like something you will need anyway. There doesn't seem to be a lot of margin for a lower-cost device there.
cleverjake 14y ago
Wrong. wrong. wrong. wrong. wrong. wrong. A rebuttal - 1. It Defeats User Expectation This only holds true if A: your user has never seen a mobile site before (and if they are on a phone thats true for about ~0.5s), or B: if your responsive design is poorly implemented. A well designed site will be intuitive. 2 - It Costs More and Takes Longer Let's assume that you have customers that will use your site on a non desktop device. If that is the case - you are making users use the wrong tool for the job. A site that takes advantage of the desktop experience will not work as well on mobile. Creating a tailored experience for them will absolutely increase conversion (if your site converts anyone to anything), and at the very least, reduce frustration and eye strain. I can't speak for everyone, but the month or two of part time work it took one of my jobs to add a mobile site was paid for by the increase in sales not too much long after. Not only that, but its now built in. When the kindle fire was released, we saw great numbers on that device. Why? because the responsive design was well done and fit that device's screen great. Saying that it 'costs more' is incredibly short sighted. 3.Non-Responsive Designs Usually Work 'working' doesn't mean it can't work better. all text websites work, too. But we use images because they enhance the experience. 4. There is Often No Load Time Benefit All this is saying is that a lot of sites are done badly. This has nothing to do with the style of responsive design in general. Tools like Modernizr allow you to optionally load a number of resources that would otherwise not load. 5. It’s a Compromise Of course? All design is compromise. The goal is to make the compromise in the favor of the customer. Responsive design is not a silver bullet, and not always a good idea, depending on the site - but this article is /really / weak.
- lwhi 14y ago
  Thank you for writing this so I didn't have to.
- kellishaver 14y ago
  So many people talk about responsive design taking longer and being not worth the effort.... That's true if you start with the desktop and try and work your way backwards to the small screen, which is how a lot of designers look at it, I think. If you take a progressive enhancement approach and work your way up from low-end mobile to full-featured desktop, the process is 100x easier and the end result is, in my experience, an overall cleaner and more stable code base that makes for better performance across all devices/platforms.
emehrkay 14y ago
As a web developer, I find that implementing a responsive design to be a fairly and rewarding task. I think it is worth the efforts given the screen variances of web-enabled devices. However, not all websites/services are fit for a responsive model. Something like a Google Maps or gmail will benefit more from a separate mobile site. While a Hacker News could easily go responsive.
yen223 14y ago
I have to seriously disagree with the 1st point. Give me a usable website over one that "meets my expectations", dammit! As much as I like the desktop version of let's say www.theverge.com, I can honestly say it wouldn't work on a mobile at all. It would be too cluttered, and the links too small to tap. On a side note, is there a mobile version of Hacker News out there?
- primatology 14y ago
  There are several. Cheeaun's is fantastic: http://cheeaun.github.com/hnmobile/landing/ http://cheeaun.github.com/hnmobile/landing/
sunraa 14y ago
The author raises a good point about page load times not really being minimized and lack of thought around good responsive design. However, I'm unconvinced about the rest of the arguments. For example, he notes "The first rule in usability 101 is to give the end user what they expect." Maybe for the first year or two in the smartphone era it might have been acceptable to simply provide a shrunken zoomed out version of the site. The onus would have been on the user to navigate appropriately. Which... is a lot of work. My (swiftly getting older) eyes appreciate the larger fonts and readability that in theory a responsive design provides. I now expect to be able to read am article in portrait mode with a decent font size without having to zoom in and out. Maybe I'm alone but I would not be surprised if more users expect this now.
- pxlpshr 14y ago
  Page size was a very valid concern the last 5 years of iOS / Android, but LTE will make the issue about as minor as it is today for desktops. I'm not suggesting pagespeed isn't important, that's something completely different and impacted by variety of factors.
- emp_ 14y ago
  With mobile-first you are optimizing for mobile, so the only extra bandwidth would be that fraction of your CSS that addresses bigger screens, so I think that his page load times is a weak point just like the first one, it all comes down to badly designed sites being bad.
  - sunraa 14y ago
    Good points. It's very easy to fall into the 'desktop first, mobile second' camp. Again it depends on the client and requirements.
- billirvine 14y ago
  > The author raises a good point about page load times not > really being minimized and lack of thought around good > responsive design The author has likely not experienced the wonders of setting images as DIV backgrounds, then setting @media screen and (max-width: 320px) { #ID {display: none; } } Or even going that (oh so tedious) extra step of sniffing browser signature at the server-side, and negating higher bandwidth assets. Effort. Try it sometime. ;)
anonymouz 14y ago
Personally, I do not want to see a sidebar, taking up a third of the screen, on my smartphone. I find the example that he considers fine quite unusable and would not read that on a smartphone.
- neilparikh11 14y ago
  Wouldn't that make you think that we should revisit the sidebar to find a more effective way to navigate rather than simply telling the user that you shouldn't have any options?
  - masklinn 14y ago
    > Wouldn't that make you think that we should revisit the sidebar No. The sidebar works and is effective when there's significant horizontal space, such as on a desktop screen with ample horizontal space. It just does not work when horizontal space is a premium, as is the case on smartphones (which generally barely fit a standard typographic line length at readable size in portrait)
    - lovamova 14y ago
      Sidebars don't add anything necessary to the user experience. It's just clutter. If there's enough horizontal space, I suggest using columns instead, they fit the purpose better.
      - mnicole 14y ago
        > Sidebars don't add anything necessary to the user experience. It's just clutter. This is a really weird argument; sidebars are preferable to a lot of other patterns depending on the site and doesn't at all mean the content is less important than anything else on the page.
        lovamova 14y ago
        Apple hardly use any sidebars (web/iOS/OS X). Even in the new iTunes they removed the sidebars. I can go on with the examples.
projectedoptics 14y ago
The author fails to take into consideration tablets, e-readers, smart TVs and every other device, currently available or in the distant future, that will have a web browser. "It Defeats User Expectation" So let's keep everything exactly the same? Responsive design to me is progress, eventually we'll either come up with good practices for working with it or maybe something else will take it's place. The way we access the internet is in constant flux and the 960 magazine layout has many pit falls in terms of usability outside of desktop sized screens.
codegeek 14y ago
call it whatever but I do need to be able to see/read websites correctly on desktop, mobile, tablet etc.
neilparikh11 14y ago
Like the author says, I would argue that it depends on the experience. The first thing to determine is: what is the core experience you're going after. For example, if you're an e-commerce website and your visitors expect to be able to find things, follow things, and then buy things, a mobile website that leaves out key functionality is frustrating. There have been many a time that I've searched desperately for the "desktop version" of the site because I need to do something that the mobile version doesn't allow me to.
tegansnyder 14y ago
This article is a fucking joke
- knowtheory 14y ago
  This is not a constructive comment.
pruett 14y ago
couldn't disagree more with this article
jeffehobbs 14y ago
This argument might as well be, "When you implement things poorly, they will be poorly implemented."
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
lemiffe 14y ago
Terrible article. The problem with it is that you effectively explained why typical responsive design (specifically) is not worth it. The older you get, the more accustomed you become to expecting everything the same way. Accept change! There is nothing wrong with it!
blauwbilgorgel 14y ago
Preface by saying responsive design _can_ be worth it. That said: If your mobile phone has so much trouble displaying a 960px width static centered website (the norm on the current web), so much so, that your mobile browser demands a different design, then I posit your design isn't broken, some mobile browsers are broken. I expect that in the near future, when resolutions get upped and mobile browsing experiences advance, responsive design becomes more and more unnecessary. To me responsive design for mobile devices seems more of a band-aid for less capable devices. Less capable devices with post-stamp sized browsers, we will soon drop in the same pile as IE6 -- Because soon we can expect any browser on any device to be able to display a 960px width static centered design just fine, without responsive design. If responsive designs stays necessary, to me it would mean the failure of mobile hardware and software manufacturers.
- splatcollision 14y ago
  You're forgetting that old, less capable devices are still widely used, all around the world, and will be for many years to come. Don't forget a basic principle of the web: Accessibility.
  - blauwbilgorgel 14y ago
    I won't: Accessibility is very important to me. Though I see a difference between access to design and access to content. I think it is fine to just serve up a reset-CSS for 2008 blackberry devices in a few years, like some now do for IE6 browsers. I don't think it is reasonable or necessary to expect designers to create responsive designs that translate to 2008 blackberry devices (or IE6 browsers) and also work on the future devices of our choice.
    - maerek 14y ago
      You are making a very strong assumption that scaling a 960px fixed width site to a viewport on a device is an optimal solution. It's fantastic I can see the entire site on my device in landscape mode; it's a tragedy that I have to double tap on a text block to make it readable. Designers should be working to eliminate unnecessary and repetitive interactions that get in the way of accessing content.
lucisferre 14y ago
A surprising (or unsurprising perhaps) number of negative responses to this article. I do see why people are so generally defensive of responsive design, I mean it just seems like the right thing to do, it fits with what we wish the commonly accepted wisdom should be. That said, building anything more interactive than a blog layout with it is actually very hard. It is time consuming, there is tedious work to do to tweak for each individual mobile browser quirk, and it may not be the best thing for a startup to invest time in. "Mobile first" certainly sounds nice, but "desktop first" is probably a faster more efficient route to product-market fit. So I'd just recommend caution in how strongly we parrot "responsive/adaptive all the things" as common wisdom without discussing the possible downsides. It isn't black and white.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- notjustanymike 14y ago
  I agree, responsive is challenging and always worth a conversation before starting. However, his arguments in this article have no place in any meaningful discussion. He essentially puts the blinders on and claims there's nothing wrong and mobile design is unnecessary.
  - lucisferre 14y ago
    Agreed it's not a very good article. I'm just bothered by how quickly the cargo cult behind any new technique or technology come out with their pitchforks.
nickpyett 14y ago
Can't post comments on the post anymore... This just me?
- freediver 14y ago
  Works for me!
splatcollision 14y ago
Responsive Design doesn't have to be a pain if you just do a little bit of thought, research and planning, and a little bit know and care about your craft. Let the content inform the design, and plan from the start for flexible designs. It is going to get a LOT easier when I'm done with the next revision of Edit Room... Designing to multiple custom breakpoints is amazing... [1] Going responsive and flexible does involve a leap of faith, and articles like this one are from folks who have not yet taken it. [Edit Room is fast, flexible design prototyping and css animation.](http://www.edit-room.com http://www.edit-room.com)
ericcholis 14y ago
Simply put, Responsive design is only worth it if you do it correctly. Just because your site scales with browser dimensions does not mean that it scales with user expectations. There are a few rules to follow: 1) Test on as many devices as possible, even if you are using a tested framework. Your design is going to be different that what the framework author(s) have done. 2) Be agile and responsive to your users. Just because your responsive design is amazing doesn't mean that the user experience will match. 3) Catalog your "must have" features, such as search and navigation. Make sure that these "must haves" are present and accessible across all your designs. Loosing navigation on mobile means dead ends for your users. 4) Related to #3, keep your experience consistent across your devices. Perhaps mobile users do need a different site, but don't loose the core purpose of the site. Mobile shopping carts need to function as similar as possible to their non-mobile versions. 5) Responsive !== Mobile (sometimes). Just because the design scales with browser size doesn't mean it's ready for mobile. 6) Use a framework whenever possible. I don't care how smart you are, it's smarter to use a tested framework at least once. Even if this means that you eventually build your own, it will give you an idea of the conventions to follow. 7) Frameworks are awesome, but none are launch ready out of the box. 8) Find your dimension breakpoints, and what they'll do to your design. Don't go too crazy though, you don't need to design for every conceivable screen dimension.
billirvine 14y ago
This reads like someone's justification for their own lack-of-talent with media queries and CSS, or their laziness toward creating an optimized experience for all users. "Responsive" is a trendy buzzword thing for what solid digital designers have been doing ever since Netscape 0.9b tossed alignment into the image tag (among other things)... paying attention to how a design looks on multiple screens. We just have more screens and means by which to optimize for those screens now. And I'm really not sold on "mobile first" either -- feels like another short-lived trendy buzzword thing. Scaling a mobile design concept up to the desktop is shorting your 1024w and up users. Designers who care think about all screens at a design's inception... then plan the CSS accordingly.
ltcoleman 14y ago
I was going to read this article, but since I'm using an iPhone and your article isn't responsive.... I didn't read it. Responsive is about capturing your audience. This article is the perfect example of why you should do responsive.
russelluresti 14y ago
Link bait and wrong on every point. This article is a waste of time to read. On each point... 1. Where's the proof? Where's the research? The usability studies? The group surveys? There is NO evidence presented to support this point. It's just opinion and conjecture. Moving on. 2. Any actual numbers on ROI or expected ROI? Nope. Moving on again. 3. Again, any usability studies to back this up? No. Next! 4. Research? Numbers? Proof? Nope. And on to the last... 5. It's not a subjective decision when designers use things like evidence (something you obviously know nothing about) based on usability research and studies. I have no problem with people speaking out against something (though the comment that there is a lack of arguments against responsive is a joke - there's probably just as many articles against as their are for due to link bait like this), but when you do argue against something, you need to present proof that shows you're right.
matznerd 14y ago
Biggest proof that this article is wrong? I'm on my phone reading the blog post and the site doesn't scale for my screen width and it is so annoying to read because I have to keep scrolling left and right to see all of the text. I got so frustrated I didnt even continue reading the article and I left the site. That is what will happen with users when a site doesn't display properly for their device, it's a fact.
- skrebbel 14y ago
  Good point, but of course installing a decent browser is the counter argument. Admittedly my 3 year old Nokia may not be very representative, but its Opera Mini version solves that problem beautifully. My hunch is that it uses heuristics to find the main text area (which nearly every site has), and adjusts the css of that block to $SCREEN_WIDTH. It's been able to do this ever since I started using it in 2009. Now, I've lived under a rock since then, but are you really saying that your mobile browser doesn't do something like that? I believe it's such browsers that the author was referring to. Still, admittedly, using heuristics to patch the css shouldn't really be a browser's task, so your point holds.
  - matznerd 14y ago
    If you are building a modern day site, there is just no reason not to make it mobile (phone/tablet) friendly. If you don't want to redesign an existing website, you can just make a separate site that redirects, but which is a less elegant solution.
  - nollidge 14y ago
    > of course installing a decent browser is the counter argument That's not a counter-argument at all. That's a solution for the user, not for the developer.
- comex 14y ago
  Yep, the inline images seem to have disabled my mobile browser's magic reflow thing. On the other hand, that suggests that the article should have narrower rows of text even on desktop (95 characters per line is on the high side of recommended widths for legibility; not unreasonable, but suboptimal), and usually I prefer to read desktop sites since zooming is actually a nice way to navigate around content - better than dealing with usually buggy and often limited mobile sites. In the example in the post, I would have much preferred to double tap once to read the text on Cats who Code than to have to scroll all the way down to find awkwardly laid out sidebar content.
antonpug 14y ago
I AGREE. Responsive design is only NECESSARY 1% of the time, and is poorly implemented 99% of the time. Most modern mobile devices can show full desktop site scaled down, with pinch-to-zoom functionality. Personally, I get annoyed with "mobile pages" and responsive layouts.
nsxwolf 14y ago
I just hate not having a choice. So many sites now make it impossible to see the non-mobile version, unless you have a browser that lets you fake the User-Agent, and mobile Safari isn't one of those. This is exceptionally irritating when the browser is more than capable of displaying the full site properly, and the mobile site doesn't have all the features of the regular site. Continuing a bit off topic on my rant, another terrible UX is finding an article you want to read in a search, tapping the link, and finding out that article isn't available in the mobile site, and simultaneously not giving an option for the full site. Taking it even further, some sites force you to download the mobile app, and only then do you find out the article isn't available in that app! I'm going to stop now - I'm getting so mad just thinking about it.
- myared 14y ago
  Agreed, not having a choice is frustrating, and as you point out, having a capable mobile browser alleviates many of those issues.
rickmb 14y ago
Using only simple blogs to prove responsive design is unnecessary is like using only nails to prove that powertools are unnecessary and all you need is a hammer...
shawnc 14y ago
This feels like it's arguing for limitations, and i'm never a fan of that. The argument that responsive design is not worth it, because some people do bad responsive design (or even most do bad responsive design) is pretty odd. To carry that same sort of argument out into anything in life would land you in serious life lessons. Yes, responsive design takes more time (no matter how you slice it). And, yes, sometimes it's not needed. Those should just be obvious to any developer worth their salt. Like everything considered when developing a website - weigh it all, figure out what's best for the project and it's users. Most definitely - time/money will be a factor in those considerations sometimes. All I can think is the writer of this article hasn't seen how powerful responsive design can be?
zapt02 14y ago
Really weak article. This actually makes me look down on ManageWP as a brand.
brador 14y ago
I like responsive design when it rearranges and resizes. I do not like it when it adds/removes information from the page.
tharris0101 14y ago
Didn't I read somewhere that Steve Jobs was against mobile versions of websites saying that the iPhone was designed to display the same website that you see on your computer? I know that as a consumer, I get annoyed when a mobile version of a site comes up and the first thing I do is check for the "Desktop Site" link. I just don't trust that the developer has included everything in the mobile site that the desktop site includes. A well designed site will look and act great on a desktop, iOS device and Android device without extra work.
myared 14y ago
His arguments are poor. These are the two most egregious. (1) It Costs More and Takes Longer. Yes, designing something additional takes longer; however, if he compared the time required to add responsive code to the time it would take to setup mobile detect and an alternate theme, than this point may have some more sense even though I'd still side with responsive code. (2) Non-Responsive Designs Usually Work. No. That's why we're having the discussion. If regular designs worked, there would not be a need. This is a problem that a lot of companies struggle with. It's fine to criticize responsive design, but bring something to the table.
joshuahedlund 14y ago
The basic problem with this post is that it contains zero data about user engagement. One guy can project his own opinion about how he thinks his non-responsive site looks fine on mobile, so clearly everyone else will too, while I can project my own personal experience that I tend to find myself spending more time reading mobile-optimized blogs on my phone, so clearly everyone else will too. It's been said a million times around these parts, but I guess I get to be the one to say it here: Get some data! Do some A/B testing! Check your bounces and pages per visits and time on site from mobile devices, then try a responsive design and see if they improve (technically, you should split and do both at the same time). What works for one site may not work for another. But projecting generalized statements with no data to back them up doesn't move anyone forward.
Dove 14y ago
A lot of this article seems to be making the point, "My iPhone handles non-responsive websites well." Which is cool for your iPhone. My Kindle 2 is not as good at it. There's progress to be made on both sides of the problem: websites adjusting to devices, and devices handling websites that don't adjust. That iPhone is good at the second half of that is cool and all, but I think it would be a big mistake to base your whole website's mobile strategy on just iPhone.
flexxaeon 14y ago
I can only assume that this was written by a developer who does not really use their mobile device to browse the web much, if at all. In 2008 I was "developing" for mobile web, but not actually using mobile web, and would have agreed with all of the OP's points. As I started to actually become a user, the benefits of responsive design became quite obvious.
thesash 14y ago
Data or it didn't happen. There is 0 data to back up any of these points. If you're basing your design decisions on generalizations in 2012, you're doing it wrong.
jblesage 14y ago
Ironically, that scrolling social media box on the side was covering some of the text while reading this on my galaxy s, leaving me wishing you had implemented some kind of responsive design.
TheFuture 14y ago
I too am having lots of doubts on responsive design. I've yet to see an example of a significantly popular and non-trivial website implement responsive in a convincing way. Anyone arguing that "they're just doing a bad responsive design" I think it missing the point. Responsive almost means it has to be bad in some way, because it is a compromise of design between 2 very different devices, not just in screen size but in use cases. The "right" approach, is the same thing we've been taught for 50 years, separating code from presentation. Building a robust API for your backend data makes the front-end presentation much easier and cheaper, so you can afford to make front-ends tailored for whatever you need.
- jclem 14y ago
  http://bostonglobe.com http://bostonglobe.com
joshuasortino 14y ago
Interesting read. It's fun to hear the other side of the argument. I don't really agree. Some of these arguments could be applied to all mobile sites, not just responsive sites. If that's the case, we've debated the value of mobile sites for years and mobile sites have clearly won. 1. It Defeats User Expectation — This is not a fault of responsive design, but rather the designer. We need more, skilled responsive designers. A responsive site should act and feel like a regular mobile site. 2. It Costs More and Takes Longer — A mobile site usually requires two separate code bases. With a responsive site, you can maintain both the desktop and mobile experiences from the same place. Also, a good responsive designer is cheaper than a desktop and mobile designer. If it's costing more, you're doing it wrong. 3. Non-Responsive Designs Usually Work — This isn't specifically targeted at responsive design, but rather all mobile websites. By your logic, any mobile site is subpar. While I think you should always include a link to the desktop version (which can be easily achieved by switching out the stylesheet), I don't think desktop sites are superior. A desktop view might be appealing to a small percentage of power users, but the majority of users will appreciate a tailored experience. Just don't hide functionality. You should be able to accomplish the same tasks on mobile that can be achieved on the desktop. 4. There is Often No Load Time Benefit — You're doing it wrong. A good responsive design will have a much lighter weight than a desktop version. There is no reason a responsive site can't function in the same manner and achieve the same performance as a mobile website. 5. It’s a Compromise — Again, this is a power user issue. Always offer the option to view the desktop version. It is silly to argue against mobile design. Screen real-estate is more valuable on a mobile device and our designs should reflect that. If your argument is responsive design doesn't offer performance benefits, than you probably need to reconsider your workflow and RWD structure.
programminggeek 14y ago
It does cost more, it does take longer, but it is basically worth it if only because you are delivering a better user experience on every device. That is the point of responsive design. Also, to that end, a good responsive design is not going to destroy your ability to navigate the page. It should make it easier. The hard part of responsive design is dealing with pages that don't always have the same layout. It is a lot of manual tweaking and better tools and frameworks are needed to make responsive design faster, easier, cheaper. It's still largely a new technique. But, after being knee deep in a responsive site redesign from the ground up, it's totally worth it for the end user.
wyck 14y ago
I actually agree with the juxt of what he is saying, though the article could have been better, maybe with a more in depth analysis of user experiences, examples and actual data. If you have a modern mobile browser and if the site itself does not meet any special mobile criteria/demographic/call-to-action, let's be honest this is the vast majority, then the default experience actually trumps the responsive one. ps. I say this having a mildly popular responsive framework on github, and I don't care because I often prefer non responsive BUT well build sites in the default view on mobile.
mtnboy 14y ago
I wrote a fairly elaborate newsletter regarding the lessons I learned from responsive design. There are no absolutes when it comes to this. The decision varies from site to site. If you believe that all websites should be responsive, then please read my newsletter. How my revenues went from $25k to $19k / month average when we redesigned and went responsive. How changing it back has now boosted the revenues even higher than before. http://eepurl.com/przMX http://eepurl.com/przMX
philjohn 14y ago
We used responsive design for the library discovery interface we produce, our UX chap did a nice presentation about the process (and why we chose a responsive web app, rather than a native app): http://www.slideshare.net/Shuckle/retrofitting-adaptive-designs http://www.slideshare.net/Shuckle/retrofitting-adaptive-desi... http://www.slideshare.net/Shuckle/web-app-and-responsive-design-for-libraries http://www.slideshare.net/Shuckle/web-app-and-responsive-des... Well received by customers and end users. We started bottom up, rather than top down, so decided what was important and hid or removed the rest.
dotborg 14y ago
Laptop - is it considered as a mobile device?
xdaseinx 14y ago
couldn't read the post since i'm on a phone
bertomartin 14y ago
"too hard, too much time" is just an excuse. It's a relatively new process so it will take some time for us to straighten out best practices.
windu 14y ago
I feel like it isn't worth it but for a slightly different reason. Responsive design isn't designed from the ground up specifically for mobile. In a mobile first world, that makes the difference.
duncanjimbo 14y ago
Sure, sounds like laziness as mentioned before. The non-responsive designs "work" because your users haven't experienced something better
rileyt 14y ago
This article seems way off in so many different aspects, especially the example where they keep the sidebar beside the text on the mobile version and say it is better. I understand the point of view that responsive isn't the answer to everything, but saying that dekstop versions of sites 'work' couldn't be more wrong in terms of just about everything.
goldenchrome 14y ago
starbucks.com is a great example of how responsive design can be brilliant. Try resizing your window.
mark_integerdsv 14y ago
Uhm... Anyone else have a hard time reading this on iPhone?
edandersen 14y ago
Let's not feed the troll. This is utter nonsense.

170 points by muriithi 14y ago

This is an opinion. People are allowed to have them. The article may make points that some (many) don't agree with, but that doesn't make them not valid. That said, the title of the article inflates the argument.. just a tad.

__abc 14y ago

I couldn't disagree more. Most importantly, I'm not sure it is safe to say users expect an IDENTICAL experience (experience being the most important word) on their mobile as they got from their desktop.

sparebytes 14y ago

I'd read it except the page doesn't fit on my phone... oh the irony.

muriithi 14y ago
So would you rather piss off those on small screens, or go the responsive route even if it is not optimal for the small screen. I always wonder how long it will take for tablets and phones to be so ubiquitous that this debate will become moot and you target mobile from the get-go?
- adamkiss 14y ago
  You kind of already do target mobile – except, of course, professionals quoting wikipedia.

uptown 14y ago

"I am a fan of responsive (or alternative) design in certain situations – for example, when dealing with a web application whose desktop design could not practically be contained within a mobile device’s screen." That's the whole idea.

heyitsnick 14y ago
My thoughts exactly. The article can seemingly be reduced to "Responsive design is not worth it (except when it is)"
- chris_wot 14y ago
  "Responsive design is (often) not worth it"
skrebbel 14y ago
Note that the author is a wordpress blogger. He may be referring to traditional web sites more than the average HN'er, to who the entire web consists of apps (and a few blogs over there in the corner). I believe that his point has a lot more merits when considering web sites than when considering web apps. For example, my favourite online newspapers on my cellphone are those which don't default to some half-arsed mobile layout.
- mistercow 14y ago
  >For example, my favourite online newspapers on my cellphone are those which don't default to some half-arsed mobile layout. Again, that's an argument against bad responsive design, not responsive design in general.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - ShirtlessRod 14y ago
    Why do so many responses seem to be "well, that's just a bad example of it"? It reminds me of the similar "well, they're just not a true conservative/liberal".
    - drivebyacct2 14y ago
      So the converse is true instead? eMachines are PCs, thus all PCs suck? Yeah, some responsive web designs suck. Some are good. Raging against all responsive web design is as silly as raging against all grouped and stereotyped things.

webbruce 14y ago

Yeah as a full-time frontend developer this article doesn't hold much water. Responsive designs are a quick and relatively cheap way to get a mobile compatible site going. It help decrease bounce rates and increase conversions as well.

companyhen 14y ago

After building some responsive sites in the past few months, I think Responsive Design is worth the extra effort.

notjustanymike 14y ago

This article lost me the moment he quoted wikipedia to explain responsive design. This is not 8th grade, come up with your own definition if you're such an expert. The rest of article was downhill too. Claiming the full site looks fine on your iPhone is akin to saying "It works on my machine!". It's pretty much a waste of time from top to bottom.

OhArgh 14y ago
Yea that annoyed me too. What if I can't afford and iPhone with Retina display?
- randomdata 14y ago
  Out of curiosity, what cell phone that meets the criteria can you afford? The iPhone 4 seems to go for about $200 used, or "free" if you want to tie it to a cell contract – since you are buying a cell phone, that seems like something you will need anyway. There doesn't seem to be a lot of margin for a lower-cost device there.

cleverjake 14y ago

Wrong. wrong. wrong. wrong. wrong. wrong. A rebuttal - 1. It Defeats User Expectation This only holds true if A: your user has never seen a mobile site before (and if they are on a phone thats true for about ~0.5s), or B: if your responsive design is poorly implemented. A well designed site will be intuitive. 2 - It Costs More and Takes Longer Let's assume that you have customers that will use your site on a non desktop device. If that is the case - you are making users use the wrong tool for the job. A site that takes advantage of the desktop experience will not work as well on mobile. Creating a tailored experience for them will absolutely increase conversion (if your site converts anyone to anything), and at the very least, reduce frustration and eye strain. I can't speak for everyone, but the month or two of part time work it took one of my jobs to add a mobile site was paid for by the increase in sales not too much long after. Not only that, but its now built in. When the kindle fire was released, we saw great numbers on that device. Why? because the responsive design was well done and fit that device's screen great. Saying that it 'costs more' is incredibly short sighted. 3.Non-Responsive Designs Usually Work 'working' doesn't mean it can't work better. all text websites work, too. But we use images because they enhance the experience. 4. There is Often No Load Time Benefit All this is saying is that a lot of sites are done badly. This has nothing to do with the style of responsive design in general. Tools like Modernizr allow you to optionally load a number of resources that would otherwise not load. 5. It’s a Compromise Of course? All design is compromise. The goal is to make the compromise in the favor of the customer. Responsive design is not a silver bullet, and not always a good idea, depending on the site - but this article is /really / weak.

lwhi 14y ago
Thank you for writing this so I didn't have to.
kellishaver 14y ago
So many people talk about responsive design taking longer and being not worth the effort.... That's true if you start with the desktop and try and work your way backwards to the small screen, which is how a lot of designers look at it, I think. If you take a progressive enhancement approach and work your way up from low-end mobile to full-featured desktop, the process is 100x easier and the end result is, in my experience, an overall cleaner and more stable code base that makes for better performance across all devices/platforms.

emehrkay 14y ago

As a web developer, I find that implementing a responsive design to be a fairly and rewarding task. I think it is worth the efforts given the screen variances of web-enabled devices. However, not all websites/services are fit for a responsive model. Something like a Google Maps or gmail will benefit more from a separate mobile site. While a Hacker News could easily go responsive.

yen223 14y ago

I have to seriously disagree with the 1st point. Give me a usable website over one that "meets my expectations", dammit! As much as I like the desktop version of let's say www.theverge.com, I can honestly say it wouldn't work on a mobile at all. It would be too cluttered, and the links too small to tap. On a side note, is there a mobile version of Hacker News out there?

primatology 14y ago
There are several. Cheeaun's is fantastic: http://cheeaun.github.com/hnmobile/landing/ http://cheeaun.github.com/hnmobile/landing/

sunraa 14y ago

The author raises a good point about page load times not really being minimized and lack of thought around good responsive design. However, I'm unconvinced about the rest of the arguments. For example, he notes "The first rule in usability 101 is to give the end user what they expect." Maybe for the first year or two in the smartphone era it might have been acceptable to simply provide a shrunken zoomed out version of the site. The onus would have been on the user to navigate appropriately. Which... is a lot of work. My (swiftly getting older) eyes appreciate the larger fonts and readability that in theory a responsive design provides. I now expect to be able to read am article in portrait mode with a decent font size without having to zoom in and out. Maybe I'm alone but I would not be surprised if more users expect this now.

pxlpshr 14y ago
Page size was a very valid concern the last 5 years of iOS / Android, but LTE will make the issue about as minor as it is today for desktops. I'm not suggesting pagespeed isn't important, that's something completely different and impacted by variety of factors.
emp_ 14y ago
With mobile-first you are optimizing for mobile, so the only extra bandwidth would be that fraction of your CSS that addresses bigger screens, so I think that his page load times is a weak point just like the first one, it all comes down to badly designed sites being bad.
- sunraa 14y ago
  Good points. It's very easy to fall into the 'desktop first, mobile second' camp. Again it depends on the client and requirements.
billirvine 14y ago
> The author raises a good point about page load times not > really being minimized and lack of thought around good > responsive design The author has likely not experienced the wonders of setting images as DIV backgrounds, then setting @media screen and (max-width: 320px) { #ID {display: none; } } Or even going that (oh so tedious) extra step of sniffing browser signature at the server-side, and negating higher bandwidth assets. Effort. Try it sometime. ;)

anonymouz 14y ago

Personally, I do not want to see a sidebar, taking up a third of the screen, on my smartphone. I find the example that he considers fine quite unusable and would not read that on a smartphone.

neilparikh11 14y ago
Wouldn't that make you think that we should revisit the sidebar to find a more effective way to navigate rather than simply telling the user that you shouldn't have any options?
- masklinn 14y ago
  > Wouldn't that make you think that we should revisit the sidebar No. The sidebar works and is effective when there's significant horizontal space, such as on a desktop screen with ample horizontal space. It just does not work when horizontal space is a premium, as is the case on smartphones (which generally barely fit a standard typographic line length at readable size in portrait)
  - lovamova 14y ago
    Sidebars don't add anything necessary to the user experience. It's just clutter. If there's enough horizontal space, I suggest using columns instead, they fit the purpose better.
    - mnicole 14y ago
      > Sidebars don't add anything necessary to the user experience. It's just clutter. This is a really weird argument; sidebars are preferable to a lot of other patterns depending on the site and doesn't at all mean the content is less important than anything else on the page.
      - lovamova 14y ago
        Apple hardly use any sidebars (web/iOS/OS X). Even in the new iTunes they removed the sidebars. I can go on with the examples.

projectedoptics 14y ago

The author fails to take into consideration tablets, e-readers, smart TVs and every other device, currently available or in the distant future, that will have a web browser. "It Defeats User Expectation" So let's keep everything exactly the same? Responsive design to me is progress, eventually we'll either come up with good practices for working with it or maybe something else will take it's place. The way we access the internet is in constant flux and the 960 magazine layout has many pit falls in terms of usability outside of desktop sized screens.

codegeek 14y ago

call it whatever but I do need to be able to see/read websites correctly on desktop, mobile, tablet etc.

neilparikh11 14y ago

Like the author says, I would argue that it depends on the experience. The first thing to determine is: what is the core experience you're going after. For example, if you're an e-commerce website and your visitors expect to be able to find things, follow things, and then buy things, a mobile website that leaves out key functionality is frustrating. There have been many a time that I've searched desperately for the "desktop version" of the site because I need to do something that the mobile version doesn't allow me to.

tegansnyder 14y ago

This article is a fucking joke

knowtheory 14y ago
This is not a constructive comment.

pruett 14y ago

couldn't disagree more with this article

jeffehobbs 14y ago

This argument might as well be, "When you implement things poorly, they will be poorly implemented."

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

lemiffe 14y ago

Terrible article. The problem with it is that you effectively explained why typical responsive design (specifically) is not worth it. The older you get, the more accustomed you become to expecting everything the same way. Accept change! There is nothing wrong with it!

blauwbilgorgel 14y ago

Preface by saying responsive design _can_ be worth it. That said: If your mobile phone has so much trouble displaying a 960px width static centered website (the norm on the current web), so much so, that your mobile browser demands a different design, then I posit your design isn't broken, some mobile browsers are broken. I expect that in the near future, when resolutions get upped and mobile browsing experiences advance, responsive design becomes more and more unnecessary. To me responsive design for mobile devices seems more of a band-aid for less capable devices. Less capable devices with post-stamp sized browsers, we will soon drop in the same pile as IE6 -- Because soon we can expect any browser on any device to be able to display a 960px width static centered design just fine, without responsive design. If responsive designs stays necessary, to me it would mean the failure of mobile hardware and software manufacturers.

splatcollision 14y ago
You're forgetting that old, less capable devices are still widely used, all around the world, and will be for many years to come. Don't forget a basic principle of the web: Accessibility.
- blauwbilgorgel 14y ago
  I won't: Accessibility is very important to me. Though I see a difference between access to design and access to content. I think it is fine to just serve up a reset-CSS for 2008 blackberry devices in a few years, like some now do for IE6 browsers. I don't think it is reasonable or necessary to expect designers to create responsive designs that translate to 2008 blackberry devices (or IE6 browsers) and also work on the future devices of our choice.
  - maerek 14y ago
    You are making a very strong assumption that scaling a 960px fixed width site to a viewport on a device is an optimal solution. It's fantastic I can see the entire site on my device in landscape mode; it's a tragedy that I have to double tap on a text block to make it readable. Designers should be working to eliminate unnecessary and repetitive interactions that get in the way of accessing content.

lucisferre 14y ago

A surprising (or unsurprising perhaps) number of negative responses to this article. I do see why people are so generally defensive of responsive design, I mean it just seems like the right thing to do, it fits with what we wish the commonly accepted wisdom should be. That said, building anything more interactive than a blog layout with it is actually very hard. It is time consuming, there is tedious work to do to tweak for each individual mobile browser quirk, and it may not be the best thing for a startup to invest time in. "Mobile first" certainly sounds nice, but "desktop first" is probably a faster more efficient route to product-market fit. So I'd just recommend caution in how strongly we parrot "responsive/adaptive all the things" as common wisdom without discussing the possible downsides. It isn't black and white.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
notjustanymike 14y ago
I agree, responsive is challenging and always worth a conversation before starting. However, his arguments in this article have no place in any meaningful discussion. He essentially puts the blinders on and claims there's nothing wrong and mobile design is unnecessary.
- lucisferre 14y ago
  Agreed it's not a very good article. I'm just bothered by how quickly the cargo cult behind any new technique or technology come out with their pitchforks.

nickpyett 14y ago

Can't post comments on the post anymore... This just me?

freediver 14y ago
Works for me!

splatcollision 14y ago

Responsive Design doesn't have to be a pain if you just do a little bit of thought, research and planning, and a little bit know and care about your craft. Let the content inform the design, and plan from the start for flexible designs. It is going to get a LOT easier when I'm done with the next revision of Edit Room... Designing to multiple custom breakpoints is amazing... [1] Going responsive and flexible does involve a leap of faith, and articles like this one are from folks who have not yet taken it. [Edit Room is fast, flexible design prototyping and css animation.](http://www.edit-room.com http://www.edit-room.com)

ericcholis 14y ago

Simply put, Responsive design is only worth it if you do it correctly. Just because your site scales with browser dimensions does not mean that it scales with user expectations. There are a few rules to follow: 1) Test on as many devices as possible, even if you are using a tested framework. Your design is going to be different that what the framework author(s) have done. 2) Be agile and responsive to your users. Just because your responsive design is amazing doesn't mean that the user experience will match. 3) Catalog your "must have" features, such as search and navigation. Make sure that these "must haves" are present and accessible across all your designs. Loosing navigation on mobile means dead ends for your users. 4) Related to #3, keep your experience consistent across your devices. Perhaps mobile users do need a different site, but don't loose the core purpose of the site. Mobile shopping carts need to function as similar as possible to their non-mobile versions. 5) Responsive !== Mobile (sometimes). Just because the design scales with browser size doesn't mean it's ready for mobile. 6) Use a framework whenever possible. I don't care how smart you are, it's smarter to use a tested framework at least once. Even if this means that you eventually build your own, it will give you an idea of the conventions to follow. 7) Frameworks are awesome, but none are launch ready out of the box. 8) Find your dimension breakpoints, and what they'll do to your design. Don't go too crazy though, you don't need to design for every conceivable screen dimension.

billirvine 14y ago

This reads like someone's justification for their own lack-of-talent with media queries and CSS, or their laziness toward creating an optimized experience for all users. "Responsive" is a trendy buzzword thing for what solid digital designers have been doing ever since Netscape 0.9b tossed alignment into the image tag (among other things)... paying attention to how a design looks on multiple screens. We just have more screens and means by which to optimize for those screens now. And I'm really not sold on "mobile first" either -- feels like another short-lived trendy buzzword thing. Scaling a mobile design concept up to the desktop is shorting your 1024w and up users. Designers who care think about all screens at a design's inception... then plan the CSS accordingly.

ltcoleman 14y ago

I was going to read this article, but since I'm using an iPhone and your article isn't responsive.... I didn't read it. Responsive is about capturing your audience. This article is the perfect example of why you should do responsive.

russelluresti 14y ago

Link bait and wrong on every point. This article is a waste of time to read. On each point... 1. Where's the proof? Where's the research? The usability studies? The group surveys? There is NO evidence presented to support this point. It's just opinion and conjecture. Moving on. 2. Any actual numbers on ROI or expected ROI? Nope. Moving on again. 3. Again, any usability studies to back this up? No. Next! 4. Research? Numbers? Proof? Nope. And on to the last... 5. It's not a subjective decision when designers use things like evidence (something you obviously know nothing about) based on usability research and studies. I have no problem with people speaking out against something (though the comment that there is a lack of arguments against responsive is a joke - there's probably just as many articles against as their are for due to link bait like this), but when you do argue against something, you need to present proof that shows you're right.

matznerd 14y ago

Biggest proof that this article is wrong? I'm on my phone reading the blog post and the site doesn't scale for my screen width and it is so annoying to read because I have to keep scrolling left and right to see all of the text. I got so frustrated I didnt even continue reading the article and I left the site. That is what will happen with users when a site doesn't display properly for their device, it's a fact.

skrebbel 14y ago
Good point, but of course installing a decent browser is the counter argument. Admittedly my 3 year old Nokia may not be very representative, but its Opera Mini version solves that problem beautifully. My hunch is that it uses heuristics to find the main text area (which nearly every site has), and adjusts the css of that block to $SCREEN_WIDTH. It's been able to do this ever since I started using it in 2009. Now, I've lived under a rock since then, but are you really saying that your mobile browser doesn't do something like that? I believe it's such browsers that the author was referring to. Still, admittedly, using heuristics to patch the css shouldn't really be a browser's task, so your point holds.
- matznerd 14y ago
  If you are building a modern day site, there is just no reason not to make it mobile (phone/tablet) friendly. If you don't want to redesign an existing website, you can just make a separate site that redirects, but which is a less elegant solution.
- nollidge 14y ago
  > of course installing a decent browser is the counter argument That's not a counter-argument at all. That's a solution for the user, not for the developer.
comex 14y ago
Yep, the inline images seem to have disabled my mobile browser's magic reflow thing. On the other hand, that suggests that the article should have narrower rows of text even on desktop (95 characters per line is on the high side of recommended widths for legibility; not unreasonable, but suboptimal), and usually I prefer to read desktop sites since zooming is actually a nice way to navigate around content - better than dealing with usually buggy and often limited mobile sites. In the example in the post, I would have much preferred to double tap once to read the text on Cats who Code than to have to scroll all the way down to find awkwardly laid out sidebar content.

antonpug 14y ago

I AGREE. Responsive design is only NECESSARY 1% of the time, and is poorly implemented 99% of the time. Most modern mobile devices can show full desktop site scaled down, with pinch-to-zoom functionality. Personally, I get annoyed with "mobile pages" and responsive layouts.

nsxwolf 14y ago

I just hate not having a choice. So many sites now make it impossible to see the non-mobile version, unless you have a browser that lets you fake the User-Agent, and mobile Safari isn't one of those. This is exceptionally irritating when the browser is more than capable of displaying the full site properly, and the mobile site doesn't have all the features of the regular site. Continuing a bit off topic on my rant, another terrible UX is finding an article you want to read in a search, tapping the link, and finding out that article isn't available in the mobile site, and simultaneously not giving an option for the full site. Taking it even further, some sites force you to download the mobile app, and only then do you find out the article isn't available in that app! I'm going to stop now - I'm getting so mad just thinking about it.

myared 14y ago
Agreed, not having a choice is frustrating, and as you point out, having a capable mobile browser alleviates many of those issues.

rickmb 14y ago

Using only simple blogs to prove responsive design is unnecessary is like using only nails to prove that powertools are unnecessary and all you need is a hammer...

shawnc 14y ago

This feels like it's arguing for limitations, and i'm never a fan of that. The argument that responsive design is not worth it, because some people do bad responsive design (or even most do bad responsive design) is pretty odd. To carry that same sort of argument out into anything in life would land you in serious life lessons. Yes, responsive design takes more time (no matter how you slice it). And, yes, sometimes it's not needed. Those should just be obvious to any developer worth their salt. Like everything considered when developing a website - weigh it all, figure out what's best for the project and it's users. Most definitely - time/money will be a factor in those considerations sometimes. All I can think is the writer of this article hasn't seen how powerful responsive design can be?

zapt02 14y ago

Really weak article. This actually makes me look down on ManageWP as a brand.

brador 14y ago

I like responsive design when it rearranges and resizes. I do not like it when it adds/removes information from the page.

tharris0101 14y ago

Didn't I read somewhere that Steve Jobs was against mobile versions of websites saying that the iPhone was designed to display the same website that you see on your computer? I know that as a consumer, I get annoyed when a mobile version of a site comes up and the first thing I do is check for the "Desktop Site" link. I just don't trust that the developer has included everything in the mobile site that the desktop site includes. A well designed site will look and act great on a desktop, iOS device and Android device without extra work.

myared 14y ago

His arguments are poor. These are the two most egregious. (1) It Costs More and Takes Longer. Yes, designing something additional takes longer; however, if he compared the time required to add responsive code to the time it would take to setup mobile detect and an alternate theme, than this point may have some more sense even though I'd still side with responsive code. (2) Non-Responsive Designs Usually Work. No. That's why we're having the discussion. If regular designs worked, there would not be a need. This is a problem that a lot of companies struggle with. It's fine to criticize responsive design, but bring something to the table.

joshuahedlund 14y ago

The basic problem with this post is that it contains zero data about user engagement. One guy can project his own opinion about how he thinks his non-responsive site looks fine on mobile, so clearly everyone else will too, while I can project my own personal experience that I tend to find myself spending more time reading mobile-optimized blogs on my phone, so clearly everyone else will too. It's been said a million times around these parts, but I guess I get to be the one to say it here: Get some data! Do some A/B testing! Check your bounces and pages per visits and time on site from mobile devices, then try a responsive design and see if they improve (technically, you should split and do both at the same time). What works for one site may not work for another. But projecting generalized statements with no data to back them up doesn't move anyone forward.

Dove 14y ago

A lot of this article seems to be making the point, "My iPhone handles non-responsive websites well." Which is cool for your iPhone. My Kindle 2 is not as good at it. There's progress to be made on both sides of the problem: websites adjusting to devices, and devices handling websites that don't adjust. That iPhone is good at the second half of that is cool and all, but I think it would be a big mistake to base your whole website's mobile strategy on just iPhone.

flexxaeon 14y ago

I can only assume that this was written by a developer who does not really use their mobile device to browse the web much, if at all. In 2008 I was "developing" for mobile web, but not actually using mobile web, and would have agreed with all of the OP's points. As I started to actually become a user, the benefits of responsive design became quite obvious.

thesash 14y ago

Data or it didn't happen. There is 0 data to back up any of these points. If you're basing your design decisions on generalizations in 2012, you're doing it wrong.

jblesage 14y ago

Ironically, that scrolling social media box on the side was covering some of the text while reading this on my galaxy s, leaving me wishing you had implemented some kind of responsive design.

TheFuture 14y ago

I too am having lots of doubts on responsive design. I've yet to see an example of a significantly popular and non-trivial website implement responsive in a convincing way. Anyone arguing that "they're just doing a bad responsive design" I think it missing the point. Responsive almost means it has to be bad in some way, because it is a compromise of design between 2 very different devices, not just in screen size but in use cases. The "right" approach, is the same thing we've been taught for 50 years, separating code from presentation. Building a robust API for your backend data makes the front-end presentation much easier and cheaper, so you can afford to make front-ends tailored for whatever you need.

jclem 14y ago
http://bostonglobe.com http://bostonglobe.com

joshuasortino 14y ago

Interesting read. It's fun to hear the other side of the argument. I don't really agree. Some of these arguments could be applied to all mobile sites, not just responsive sites. If that's the case, we've debated the value of mobile sites for years and mobile sites have clearly won. 1. It Defeats User Expectation — This is not a fault of responsive design, but rather the designer. We need more, skilled responsive designers. A responsive site should act and feel like a regular mobile site. 2. It Costs More and Takes Longer — A mobile site usually requires two separate code bases. With a responsive site, you can maintain both the desktop and mobile experiences from the same place. Also, a good responsive designer is cheaper than a desktop and mobile designer. If it's costing more, you're doing it wrong. 3. Non-Responsive Designs Usually Work — This isn't specifically targeted at responsive design, but rather all mobile websites. By your logic, any mobile site is subpar. While I think you should always include a link to the desktop version (which can be easily achieved by switching out the stylesheet), I don't think desktop sites are superior. A desktop view might be appealing to a small percentage of power users, but the majority of users will appreciate a tailored experience. Just don't hide functionality. You should be able to accomplish the same tasks on mobile that can be achieved on the desktop. 4. There is Often No Load Time Benefit — You're doing it wrong. A good responsive design will have a much lighter weight than a desktop version. There is no reason a responsive site can't function in the same manner and achieve the same performance as a mobile website. 5. It’s a Compromise — Again, this is a power user issue. Always offer the option to view the desktop version. It is silly to argue against mobile design. Screen real-estate is more valuable on a mobile device and our designs should reflect that. If your argument is responsive design doesn't offer performance benefits, than you probably need to reconsider your workflow and RWD structure.

programminggeek 14y ago

It does cost more, it does take longer, but it is basically worth it if only because you are delivering a better user experience on every device. That is the point of responsive design. Also, to that end, a good responsive design is not going to destroy your ability to navigate the page. It should make it easier. The hard part of responsive design is dealing with pages that don't always have the same layout. It is a lot of manual tweaking and better tools and frameworks are needed to make responsive design faster, easier, cheaper. It's still largely a new technique. But, after being knee deep in a responsive site redesign from the ground up, it's totally worth it for the end user.

wyck 14y ago

I actually agree with the juxt of what he is saying, though the article could have been better, maybe with a more in depth analysis of user experiences, examples and actual data. If you have a modern mobile browser and if the site itself does not meet any special mobile criteria/demographic/call-to-action, let's be honest this is the vast majority, then the default experience actually trumps the responsive one. ps. I say this having a mildly popular responsive framework on github, and I don't care because I often prefer non responsive BUT well build sites in the default view on mobile.

mtnboy 14y ago

I wrote a fairly elaborate newsletter regarding the lessons I learned from responsive design. There are no absolutes when it comes to this. The decision varies from site to site. If you believe that all websites should be responsive, then please read my newsletter. How my revenues went from $25k to $19k / month average when we redesigned and went responsive. How changing it back has now boosted the revenues even higher than before. http://eepurl.com/przMX http://eepurl.com/przMX

philjohn 14y ago

We used responsive design for the library discovery interface we produce, our UX chap did a nice presentation about the process (and why we chose a responsive web app, rather than a native app): http://www.slideshare.net/Shuckle/retrofitting-adaptive-designs http://www.slideshare.net/Shuckle/retrofitting-adaptive-desi... http://www.slideshare.net/Shuckle/web-app-and-responsive-design-for-libraries http://www.slideshare.net/Shuckle/web-app-and-responsive-des... Well received by customers and end users. We started bottom up, rather than top down, so decided what was important and hid or removed the rest.

dotborg 14y ago

Laptop - is it considered as a mobile device?

xdaseinx 14y ago

couldn't read the post since i'm on a phone

bertomartin 14y ago

"too hard, too much time" is just an excuse. It's a relatively new process so it will take some time for us to straighten out best practices.

windu 14y ago

I feel like it isn't worth it but for a slightly different reason. Responsive design isn't designed from the ground up specifically for mobile. In a mobile first world, that makes the difference.

duncanjimbo 14y ago

Sure, sounds like laziness as mentioned before. The non-responsive designs "work" because your users haven't experienced something better

rileyt 14y ago

This article seems way off in so many different aspects, especially the example where they keep the sidebar beside the text on the mobile version and say it is better. I understand the point of view that responsive isn't the answer to everything, but saying that dekstop versions of sites 'work' couldn't be more wrong in terms of just about everything.

goldenchrome 14y ago

starbucks.com is a great example of how responsive design can be brilliant. Try resizing your window.

mark_integerdsv 14y ago

Uhm... Anyone else have a hard time reading this on iPhone?

edandersen 14y ago

Let's not feed the troll. This is utter nonsense.