Date post: | 27-Jan-2015 |
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Design |
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Adapting to a Responsive
DesignMatt Gibson / Cyber-Duck
@duckymatt / @cyberduck_uk#untangletheweb
How do we define responsive?
To react quickly and positively.
Responsive web design is a design approach that aims to create interfaces
that react quickly and positively to the user’s
conditions.
Flickr credit: @alui0000
People will access our websites in ways we perhaps hadn’t even considered yet.
The previous state(s) of our website
“Desktop” site (2011)
“Tablet” site (Later 2011)
*Not to scale :)
“Mobile” site (2012)
Our separate mobile websites:A stop-gap strategy
So why go responsive?
1. Multiple code bases
2. Content management
3. More and more new devices and form factors
You don't get to decide which device people use to access your website.
Karen McGrane
http://bondartscience.com/
Setting goals for a RWD...
1. Content Parity
Credit: http://wtfmobileweb.com/
The same content and functionality should be on all platforms.
2. Speed
Flickr credit: @myoldpostcards
Performance affects everyone.
3. Future friendly
Credit: http://futurefriend.ly/
Cut down on maintenance and support known unknowns
#ffly
4. Accessibility
Credit: http://futurefriend.ly/
Styles, backgrounds and JavaScript are progressive enhancements
1. Content Parity
RWD meansassuming less
about our users
Begin by defining the content people visit your website for.
http://xkcd.com/773/
Researching our content strategy
Speaking to existing customers
Google Analytics
CrazyEgg
Lead Forensics
Defining the content first
Our content defines the layouts we need.
Not the other way around.
2. Speed
Does responsive = poor performance?
Credit: Guy Podjarny - Creator of Mobitest: http://www.guypo.com/mobile/what-are-responsive-websites-made-of/
To react quickly and positively.
It’s easy to confuse implementation with
technique.
Making performance a priority.
We set ourselves a performance budget of 500kb for mobile.
To load the Facebook, Twitter and Google social media buttons for a total of 19 requests takes 246.7 KB in bandwidth.
http://zurb.com/article/883/small-painful-buttons-why-social-media-bu
Off the shelf front-end frameworks
The next big thing TM
Flickr credit: @donshall
They try to do everything.
They make design decisions for you.
Flickr credit: @jamesrbowe
Knowing your code from top to bottom is essential to have total control over it.
Using frameworks doesn’t help with that.
https://github.com/Cyber-Duck/hoisin.scss
We created a mini-library that doesn’t include any predefined
styling for layout / grid, buttons, typography etc.
Did we need CMS software to manage
our content?
No CMS Software ≠ No CMS
For most projects the answer would
be yes.
For our own website it was no (apart from our blog).
Only loading what we need
when we need it.
Javascript
CSS
Images
3. Future friendliness
The web doesn’t have a fixed width.
We should embrace the fact that the web doesn’t have the same
constraints [as the printed page] and design for this flexibility.
John Allsopp, A Dao of Web Designhttp://alistapart.com/article/dao
Layout & flowBreakpoints based on content and design, rather than device
Designing for context
The right code for the right task
Leave styling to CSS and use JS only to change
the “state” of an element.
Animation as an enhancement
Using CSS3 for animations enhances the experience for browsers
that support it, while older browsers still get the functionality if not
the eye candy.
4. Accessibility
6 quick wins for accessibility
1. Make the purpose of all links as clear and
descriptive as possible
Avoid link anchors that presume the interaction method like “click here”
2. Create a hidden skip navigation link
3. Make URLs human readable and permanent
where possible.
Is this human readable?http://art.com/artgallery/default.asp?
sid=9DF4BC0580DF11D3ACB60090271E26A8&command=freelist.
4. Use descriptive alt tags for when an image cannot be shown.
5. Don’t use placeholders as an alternative for
labels on forms.
6. Use appropriate input types and attributes on
forms.
The results?
Since launch:
200%increase in
mobile traffic
2.07%increase in
conversion rate
-4000%reduction in homepage
exit rate on mobile
Our conclusion
We are still learning.
There is more to do to make our websites faster, more
future friendly, more accessible.
AKA more responsive.
Thank you.Matt Gibson / Cyber-Duck
@duckymatt / @cyberduck_uk#untangletheweb