Utility that can convert a fixed css style into fluid

[triplebit]

I wander why there is no softaware tool that can convert a fixed css style into a fluid one.
Has anyone the answer to that?
Regards
Triplebtit

[Paulie_D]

how would the tool know what your design choices are and how they should react?

It can’t decide that it needs to make an specific element change position based on some arbitrary number…you need to make that decision.

Nope…you just have to get down and do it.

Life is not that easy.

[triplebit]

Thanks Paulie_D
I agree completely to your respond but I still wonder:
When I converted in the past a fixed layout to a responsive one I used to do it in 2 steps:
1. First made the layout fluid.
2. Then I would refer to every device by means of media queries and modify the css accordingly.
Do you think that the first step can be done automatically by some utility?
Regards
Triplebit

[Paulie_D]

Do you think that the first step can be done automatically by some utility?

I think you could write something that would convert all the px values to % but it probably wouldn’t be intuitive enough to understand that, in some cases, the px value is actually what is wanted rather than 19.758479%

[Paulie_D]

Do you think that the first step can be done automatically by some utility?

I think you could write something that would convert all the px values to % but it probably wouldn’t be intuitive enough to understand that, in some cases, the px value is actually what is wanted rather than 19.758479%

[Paulie_D]

Do you think that the first step can be done automatically by some utility?

I think you could write something that would convert all the px values to % but it probably wouldn’t be intuitive enough to understand that, in some cases, the px value is actually what is wanted rather than 19.758479%

[__]

Do you think that the first step can be done automatically by some utility?

Bears repeating.

I think you could write something that would convert all the px values to % but it probably wouldn’t be intuitive enough to understand that, in some cases, the px value is actually what is wanted rather than 19.758479%

+1.

This has been coming up a lot in the past month. Everyone is asking (for example) how to convert pixels into percentages, ignoring the fact that, if you designed in pixels, pixels are appropriate and percentages aren’t.

It is not possible to “make a layout fluid” by changing all of the measurement units according to some algorithm. At best, it is the same design, but you’ll probably introduce some bugs along the way.

You make a layout fluid by (re)designing it with fluidity in mind from the start.

[triplebit]

Thanks un-traq-ed
I agree completely with you if you are asked to start a project from scratch.
But let’s admit that many sites are already exists with an old design and their owners want us just to modify and not to rebuild them(at list in my case).
My questions refers to the technical ability to write such a software tool in this case…
Thanks in advance.

Triplebit

[nixnerd]

@triplebit There is absolutely no way to do this. There’s not just one or two “conversions” that make a site responsive or fluid. It’s an entirely different philosophy of web development. There’s no way that by calculating the % equivalent of a px based layout, you’ll be able to do this. It’s not just that it wont be reliable… it’s not even possible.

Think about it: Let’s say someone wrote a layout to have a wrapper that is 1000px wide. Ok, now how do you convert that to a percentage? You have the numerator… now you need a denominator. In order to determine the percentage it should be, you have to know how big someone’s screen is. You cannot know that. That’s the whole point of responsive design and that’s the problem we’re trying to solve. It defeats the purpose of even attempting to build such a utility, only to encounter the same problem.

Ok, but let’s just say you’re like “Screw it, I’ll move forward… I’ll just make an arbitrary number for a wrapper… let’s say 80%.” Ok, now how do the rest of the elements fit into that? They were all created with respect to the 1000px wrapper. If the foundation of the site is pixel based… it cannot work.

There’s no way to reliably do this and you will simply have to rebuild the site. There’s absolutely no way around that… anyone who tells you different is wrong.

You COULD query the machine for it’s display size EVERY SINGLE TIME a page is requested… then do your conversions to percentages at run time… but believe me, you don’t want to do that. The performance overhead will be enormous… making your site suck. Just re-write it. Chances are… the code could be improved anyway.

[__]

I agree completely with you if you are asked to start a project from scratch.

Well, then I probably haven’t explained myself clearly.

It doesn’t matter if you’re starting from scratch or not. My point was that making a site “responsive” is not a matter of changing everything from static units of measure to dynamic units. You can’t make a site “responsive” without redesigning it.

If it’s already been designed once, then you probably won’t be starting from scratch. But it’s still a new design. It is not possible to “design” automatically.

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