Hands-On Responsive Web Design

From my workshop in Columbus at Midwest UX 2012, a walk-through of how we need user-centered thinking throughout the responsive web design process.

Transcript

1. HANDS-ON RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN Ben Callahan // @bencallahan Sparkbox // seesparkbox.com http://bit.ly/LWLTEA
2. THE WEB IS NOT FIXED-WIDTH
3. IGNORE IT FIXED-WIDTH “DESKTOP” http://website.com THREE WAYS ORGANIZATIONS ARE ADDRESSING MOBILE
4. MOBILE SITE FIXED-WIDTH “DESKTOP” http://website.com 100% WIDE “MOBILE” http://mobile.website.com + THREE WAYS ORGANIZATIONS ARE ADDRESSING MOBILE
5. MOBILE SITE THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE OF YOUR SITE IS THE ONE I NEED NOW THREE WAYS ORGANIZATIONS ARE ADDRESSING MOBILE
6. RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN ONE SITE ADJUSTS ITSELF http://website.com THREE WAYS ORGANIZATIONS ARE ADDRESSING MOBILE
7. ETHAN MARCOTTE Article on alistapart.com Book via A Book Apart RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN
8. RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN A FLUID GRID FLEXIBLE CONTENT MEDIA QUERIES
10. THE DIP
11. Unconscious Incompetence Conscious Incompetence Conscious Competence Unconscious Competence STAGES OF COMPETENCE
12. THINK RESPONSIVELY
13. RWD PLANNING & DESIGN
14. PROJECT BRIEF
15. PROJECT BRIEF Client: Dress Responsively Project: Website that offers RWD-themed apparel.
16. PROJECT BRIEF Project Scope Offer only t-shirts at first... potential for more later No initial product inventory (no cart, checkout, etc) Users vote via twitter on what shirt they want produced Should appeal to designers and developers Simple 3-4 template site initially Site will be responsive, build mobile-first
17. Logo and tagline Headline: “You Decide, 2012” Navigation: Home, About, Shirts, Contact Top Shirt: # votes, title, description, link to detail view About Text: headline and two paragraphs describing the site Footer: nav and copyright PROJECT BRIEF Project Scope
20. BROKEN PROCESS As if you didn’t already know.
21. The problem isn’t the style, it looks cool. The problem isn’t the size of the design. BROKEN PROCESS THE PROBLEM WITH “960-ONLY DESIGNING”
22. The problem is the mindset. BROKEN PROCESS THE PROBLEM WITH “960-ONLY DESIGNING”
23. BROKEN PROCESS It assumes a fairytale world of controlled web experience that doesn’t exist, pushes design decisions onto developers, and creates false expectations in clients. THE PROBLEM WITH “960-ONLY DESIGNING”
24. It simply is not conducive to creating a site which is future-proof and forward thinking... • Mobile First CSS • Content as King • Responsive Layouts BROKEN PROCESS THE PROBLEM WITH “960-ONLY DESIGNING”
25. BROKEN PROCESS So, what’ a geek to do?
26. DON’T keep up the status quo. DON’T stop at whining about inadequate tools. Get creative and explore other possibilities with the tools and practices we have available today. BROKEN PROCESS
27. STUFF WE’VE TRIED It ain’t always been pretty.
28. MOBILE FIRST DESIGN “Let’s try designing it the way we plan to code it. Just do the design at a small resolution.” STUFF WE’VE TRIED
29. MOBILE FIRST DESIGN Problems: Mobile layouts are inevitably more linear and simple, and they provide little direction or room for more interesting layouts at large screen sizes. STUFF WE’VE TRIED
30. STUFF WE’VE TRIED BOOKENDS “Okay, if designing for large resolutions isn’t enough, how about adding a small resolution version? We’ll deliver both.”
31. STUFF WE’VE TRIED BOOKENDS Problems... It’s a band-aid. Increases timeline and budget.
32. STUFF WE’VE TRIED BOOKENDS... PLUS “Okay, if designing large and small resolutions isn’t enough, how about adding a mid-range version? After all, tablets are the new black.” “And how about a 1280?” “And maybe one for my Blackberry Storm?”
33. STUFF WE’VE TRIED BOOKENDS... PLUS Problems... Again, it’s a band-aid. And it costs a LOT, too.
34. OUR PROCESS For now, anyway.
35. We are attempting to optimize content, design, and development time, finding a balance of appropriate direction from all disciplines without destroying budgets. ...while delivering on mobile-first, responsive designs where content is valued and considered. OUR PROCESS
36. A Priority Guide OUR PROCESS Step One-a:
37. Home About Shirts Contact Dress Responsively clothing co SIZE US UP & CAST YOUR VOTE! IMAGE OF LEADING SHIRT WHAT’S THIS ALL ABOUT? SHOW ME ALL THE CANDIDATES The Dress Responsively Clothing Company doesn’t exist. Yet. This website is a product of Sparkbox’s Build Responsively workshop. Dress Responsively was originally built as a mock project to create working files and content for the workshop’s attendees. But then we got to thinking. What standards-loving, responsively- building, media-querying web citizens wouldn’t love some apparel which flies the flag of the future of the web? Let’s turn it over to the people. So here we are. If we are able to stump for enough interest, tweets, and votes for this geekwear, we’ll print up the winner and make it available. Check out the shirt designs, vote for your frontrunner, and pass us along to your friends. Democracy at work, folks. It’s either that or mob rule, whichever comes first. Either way, we all get sweet shirts out of it. SHOW ME THE CANDIDATES Back to Top SPARKBOX LOGO MADE BY BUILD RESPONSIVELY LOGO EXCLUSIVELY FOR Home About Shirts Contact © Sparkbox 2012 All Rights Reserved. Responsive design is always the right answer. Though it is not always the only answer. Listen to Bruce Lee. Be like water, my friend. We’ve got to design in the browser. We just don’t have the tools yet. El Presidente Say: EXPANDING FOOTER Link Link HAS DROP DOWN MAILTO LINK SCROLL BELOW 334 VOTES #1 IN POLLS Tuesday, February 14, 12 Home About Shirts Contact Dress Responsively clothing co IMAGE OF SHIRT #1 SHIRT DETAILS AND VOTING Back to Top REPEAT FOOTER EXPAND HIDDEN IMAGE OF SHIRT #2 SHIRT DETAILS AND VOTING IMAGE OF SHIRT #3 198 VOTES SHIRT DETAILS AND VOTING 254 VOTES 334 VOTES Tuesday, February 14, 12 A little something clever and explanatory about the shirt. Keep in mind that we can’t be too exclusive in the humor, at least not without giving subtle explanation. Home About Shirts Contact Dress Responsively clothing co IMAGE OF SHIRT #1 VOTE FOR IT EXPAND HIDDEN 334 VOTES CLICK FOR DETAIL VIEW #1 IN POLLS   SHIRT TITLE GOES HERE NEXT SHIRT PREV SHIRT Back to Top REPEAT FOOTER Tuesday, February 14, 12 3 Priority Guides for 3 Templates
38. Home About Shirts Contact Dress Responsively clothing co SIZE US UP & CAST YOUR VOTE! IMAGE OF LEADING SHIRT WHAT’S THIS ALL ABOUT? SHOW ME ALL THE CANDIDATES The Dress Responsively Clothing Company doesn’t exist. Yet. This website is a product of Sparkbox’s Build Responsively workshop. Dress Responsively was originally built as a mock project to create working files and content for the workshop’s attendees. But then we got to thinking. What standards-loving, responsively- HAS DROP DOWN MAILTO LINK SCROLL BELOW 334 VOTES #1 IN POLLS Home Page
39. Home About Shirts Contact Dress Responsively clothing co IMAGE OF SHIRT #1 SHIRT DETAILS AND VOTING EXPAND HIDDEN IMAGE OF SHIRT #2 SHIRT DETAILS AND VOTING 254 VOTES 334 VOTES Listing Page
40. A little something clever and explanatory about the shirt. Keep in mind that we can’t be too exclusive in the humor, at least not without giving subtle explanation. Home About Shirts Contact Dress Responsively clothing co IMAGE OF SHIRT #1 VOTE FOR IT EXPAND HIDDEN 334 VOTES CLICK FOR DETAIL VIEW #1 IN POLLS   SHIRT TITLE GOES HERE NEXT SHIRT PREV SHIRT Back to Top REPEAT FOOTER Detail Page
41. Home About Shirts Contact Dress Responsively clothing co SIZE US UP & CAST YOUR VOTE! IMAGE OF LEADING SHIRT WHAT’S THIS ALL ABOUT? SHOW ME ALL THE CANDIDATES The Dress Responsively Clothing Company doesn’t exist. Yet. This website is a product of Sparkbox’s Build Responsively workshop. Dress Responsively was originally built as a mock project to create working files and content for the workshop’s attendees. But then we got to thinking. What standards-loving, responsively- building, media-querying web citizens wouldn’t love some apparel which flies the flag of the future of the web? Let’s turn it over to the people. So here we are. If we are able to stump for enough interest, tweets, and votes for this geekwear, we’ll print up the winner and make it available. Check out the shirt designs, vote for your frontrunner, and pass us along to your friends. Democracy at work, folks. It’s either that or mob rule, whichever comes first. Either way, we all get sweet shirts out of it. SHOW ME THE CANDIDATES Back to Top SPARKBOX LOGO MADE BY BUILD RESPONSIVELY LOGO EXCLUSIVELY FOR Home About Shirts Contact © Sparkbox 2012 All Rights Reserved. Responsive design is always the right answer. Though it is not always the only answer. Listen to Bruce Lee. Be like water, my friend. We’ve got to design in the browser. We just don’t have the tools yet. El Presidente Say: EXPANDING FOOTER Link Link HAS DROP DOWN MAILTO LINK SCROLL BELOW 334 VOTES #1 IN POLLS Tuesday, February 14, 12 Home About Shirts Contact Dress Responsively clothing co IMAGE OF SHIRT #1 SHIRT DETAILS AND VOTING Back to Top REPEAT FOOTER EXPAND HIDDEN IMAGE OF SHIRT #2 SHIRT DETAILS AND VOTING IMAGE OF SHIRT #3 198 VOTES SHIRT DETAILS AND VOTING 254 VOTES 334 VOTES Tuesday, February 14, 12 A little something clever and explanatory about the shirt. Keep in mind that we can’t be too exclusive in the humor, at least not without giving subtle explanation. Home About Shirts Contact Dress Responsively clothing co IMAGE OF SHIRT #1 VOTE FOR IT EXPAND HIDDEN 334 VOTES CLICK FOR DETAIL VIEW #1 IN POLLS   SHIRT TITLE GOES HERE NEXT SHIRT PREV SHIRT Back to Top REPEAT FOOTER Tuesday, February 14, 12 3 Priority Guides for 3 Templates
42. A Style Prototype OUR PROCESS Step One-b: Like Samantha Warren’s Style Tiles, but in the browser. (styletil.es)
43. Large Resolution Design OUR PROCESS Step Two:
44. Code Responsive Templates OUR PROCESS Step Three:
45. Content , design, and development team members must review and collaborate regularly at every stage in the process. OUR PROCESS Step Four Zero:
46. We can’t “throw it over the wall” anymore... at least not if we want our sites to be excellent. There are too many moving parts. OUR PROCESS Step Four Zero:
47. ONE NOTE Content Strategy OUR PROCESS
48. CLIENT DELIVERABLES Oh yeah. We have to get this tuff approved.
49. CLIENT DELIVERABLES It depends... So if everything is changing, what do we show them?
50. Client Education. Level of trust from the client. Scope of the project. Time and budget. CLIENT DELIVERABLES DELIVERABLE DECISIONS ARE EFFECTED BY...
51. Educated clients (or more trusting and open-minded ones) may be open to deliverables closer to what we’ve described in our current process. CLIENT DELIVERABLES
52. Though we may educate our clients, some will inevitably want to see more and more versions of wireframes and layouts which cover multiple screen sizes... I recommend getting paid for that. CLIENT DELIVERABLES
53. https://github.com/sparkbox/Build-Responsively-Workshop A GOOD START /03-Boilerplate
54. DEVELOPMENT TOOLS
55. BROWSERS CHROME SAFARI FIREFOX DEVELOPMENT TOOLS
56. DEVELOPMENT TOOLS
57. DEVELOPMENT TOOLS
58. BROWSERS CHROME SAFARI FIREFOX (GETFIREBUG.COM) DEVELOPMENT TOOLS
59. BOOKMARKLETS DEVELOPMENT TOOLS http://www.benjaminkeen.com/misc/bricss/ http://seesparkbox.com/foundry/media_query_bookmarklet
60. HTML5 BOILERPLATE http://html5boilerplate.com/ https://github.com/sparkbox/html5-boilerplate
61. http://bit.ly/LWLTEA WRITE THE MARKUP /04-Markup
62. WRITE THE MARKUP http://getskeleton.com (the grid is NOT semantic) Fluid presentation makes the separation of style from content critical.
68. CSS 1 /05-CSS-1 http://bit.ly/LWLTEA
69. TASK GOALS 1) ADD THE “HOME” LINK BACK IN 2) INCORPORATE THE LARGER LOGO 3) CONSIDER TYPE AND PADDING SIZES 4) HONOR THE PROPORTIONS OF THE DESIGN CSS-1
70. CSS 2 /07-CSS-2 http://bit.ly/LWLTEA
71. TASK GOALS 1) ADJUST FONT-SIZE APPROPRIATELY 2) MOVE TO TWO COLUMNS 3) HONOR THE PROPORTIONS OF THE DESIGN CSS-2
72. CSS 3 /09-CSS-3 http://bit.ly/LWLTEA
73. TASK GOALS 1) ADD A 2-COLUMN LAYOUT 2) ADD A 3-COLUMN LAYOUT 3) TRY FOR A PERFECT GRID 3) HONOR THE PROPORTIONS OF THE DESIGN CSS-3
74. DRESSRESPONSIVELY.COM
75. RESPONSIVE CHALLENGES
76. RESPONSIVE CHALLENGES IMAGES ADS BIG TABLES COMPLEX NAVIGATION PROCESS
77. RESPONSIVE CHALLENGES IMAGES ADS BIG TABLES COMPLEX NAVIGATION PROCESS
78. RESPONSIVE CHALLENGES IMAGES ADS BIG TABLES COMPLEX NAVIGATION PROCESS
79. RESPONSIVE CHALLENGES IMAGES ADS BIG TABLES COMPLEX NAVIGATION PROCESS
80. RESPONSIVE CHALLENGES IMAGES ADS BIG TABLES COMPLEX NAVIGATION PROCESS
81. RESPONSIVE MINDSET
82. BUILDRESPONSIVELY.COM JULY 9, 10 RIGHT HERE IN COLUMBUS
83. DISCUSSION
84. HANDS-ON RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN Ben Callahan // @bencallahan Sparkbox // seesparkbox.com