RWD approach, what suits me best?

[sklokgieters]

Hi everyone,

For a coming up project I will be developing a large responsive website. Because I want the website to be “future proof” there are some issues to tackle.

The main idea is to create a main lay-out (like a grid) to control the column structures. Let say that I will be using max. 4 columns for my main lay-out where the inner content will be percentual for the main part, my wireframes will be designed for a set of device groups. But this is where my concern kicks in…

Some people say let your content control the breakpoints, other say choose a set of resolutions that you want to target (ofcourse they will be converted to EMs). From my standpoint, with the main grid to control the main lay-out what’s the best approach? Personally, I tend more towards a classification on the basis of resolutions.

I want to be flexible but I also want some “control”, especially since the website must be future proof. The last thing I want to do is only targeting a specific set of devices which will kick me in the back towards the future.

What is your experience with RWD and what is your opinion about my approach? I want to thank everyone in advance for their feedback, I’d love to hear from you!

[Alen]

There’s no such thing as “future proof” there is however “future friendly”.

http://futurefriendlyweb.com/resources.html

Some people say let your content control the breakpoints, other say choose a set of resolutions

These people are on crack. Seriously.

Your use-case might call for one or the other. It all depends on how you want to approach this. I suggest you play around with different techniques and figure out what works best. Also, you can combine the two.

I prefer to use Mobile First approach and tend to create breakpoints based on when my design breaks.

[chrisburton]

Some people say let your content control the breakpoints, other say choose a set of resolutions

These people are on crack. Seriously.

Huh? Letting the flow of content dictate breakpoints is bad? Am I misunderstanding you?

[Alen]

Both camps are on crack. One is not better than the other. It’s just a different approach.

As I said…

I prefer to use Mobile First approach and tend to create breakpoints based on when my design breaks.

[sklokgieters]

Hmm, but what is the best approach when somebody else is making the wireframes/ design. There has to be some kind of logical system regarding the breakpoints. Overview is the key when building large scale websites.

It’s not that I will be setting up a max. 5 page website, I’ll have to build dozens of pages and I can’t spend time for each page individual to determine when the content will need breakpoints. That’s why I tend more towards a classification on the basis of resolutions/ device groups.

Has anyone else had similar problems/ concerns regarding this aspect?

[Author]

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