Then you all can be happy carrying your pagers and listening to the latest hit from Abba as well.
Mobile use is not a fad. It's not just something those whippersnappers are doing, even if you're not. It is, for many, the first and sometimes only web device they use. And it's use is growing exponentially. The problem that "mobile-first" is trying to solve is an issue not simply one of making content "flow" properly. Mobile devices have so much less screen space as to force a complete re-think of what the content is. Simply re-flowing vast amounts of content onto a small space makes for a terrible user experience. You need to re-design so that you provide only the essential content on a mobile device, and as you scale up, you add optional content. The solution that mobile-first presents is rather than taking a full-scale site and trying to decide what to throw out, you start with the essentials and scale up. It's as much a thought exercise as it is a design strategy. It's not about writing to specific mobile-device browsers, it's about designing a site and its content so that it makes sense on mobile, and then adding all the great "extras" when you have the luxury of screen space. I find it an incredibly useful way to think about things. I don't always complete the design a the mobile level first, but keeping it in the front of mind helps keep the "KISS" (keep it simple, stupid) at the forefront as well. And that's a good thing. Chris On 4/10/14 3:24 AM, "Philip Taylor" <[email protected]> wrote: >Someone wrote: > >>> I would like to hear your thoughts/recommendations on Mobile >>> devices for clarification and advice? >>> >> I consider them for the most part more toys than tools. I own no >> mobile device, and do not anticipate ever owning one. I leave here >> infrequently. I've been fueling my car about 3-4 times per year for >> the past several years. Cell service here is non-existent for any >> but Verizon users. Hand held devices I'm familiar with are hard for >> those with big fingers and tired old eyes to use. Mobile devices >> are a scourge on traffic safety. I don't anticipate doing anything >> to promote or facilitate their use. > >Although I don't go along 100% with whoever wrote the immediately >preceding paragraph (it is variously attributed to Ted Sperling >and Felix Miata, but I cannot trace the original), I nonetheless >have considerable sympathy with the ideas expressed. Like the >author, I too own no mobile device other than a couple of >15-year-old mobile 'phones (monochrome) and although I /may/ >purchase a Chromebook at some point, I believe that such devices >emulate conventional desktop/notebook computers rather than >tablets and their ilk. > >My thoughts regarding "Mobile-first design" is that it is putting >the cart before the horse -- we should (IMHO) (a) be designing to >W3C standards (and not designing to accommodate browser deficiencies), >and (b) be designing to be flexible (so that no matter how big or how >small the target device is, our content will reflow to fill it to >maximum advantage). If those two desiderata are met, then it becomes >the responsibility of tablet (etc) designers to accommodate such >material; it is not our job to spoon-feed them and make their lives >easier. > >Philip Taylor >______________________________________________________________________ >css-discuss [[email protected]] >http://www.css-discuss.org/mailman/listinfo/css-d >List wiki/FAQ -- http://css-discuss.incutio.com/ >List policies -- http://css-discuss.org/policies.html >Supported by evolt.org -- http://www.evolt.org/help_support_evolt/ ______________________________________________________________________ css-discuss [[email protected]] http://www.css-discuss.org/mailman/listinfo/css-d List wiki/FAQ -- http://css-discuss.incutio.com/ List policies -- http://css-discuss.org/policies.html Supported by evolt.org -- http://www.evolt.org/help_support_evolt/
