Dan Gough

Responsive web design isn’t a gimmick - so please stop using it as one. More and more people seem to be releasing sites that are loosely responsive, only so they can slap the label of “our new responsive site” on it. That’s not what RWD is about. 

Responsive is creating an experience that changes across a range of devices, providing an optimum experience throughout. Responsive is about giving an experience that doesn’t compromise because of device. Responsive is about change. Responsive is a new standard. Responsive is many things but one thing it isn’t, is a gimmick. 

There is nothing worse than using something just to get brownie points: you should use it for a purpose. Utilise responsive because you want to make a users experience the best it can possibly be, not because you just want a responsive site. 

A perfect example of this, and what spurred this was when the Guardian released their new “responsive mobile site” - if it’s just for mobile it’s not responsive.

m.guardian.co.uk 
 

This is a fluid layout that is only optimal in the context of mobile, when ported to the desktop it provides a horrid user experience. In fact, on desktop it just makes no sense. 

But it’s a responsive MOBILE site, that’s why it’s a subdomain 

That’s not what responsive is, the site just changes to different widths - it only accommodates mobile devices. If this were a “responsive site” it would extend to desktop. This is an unfinished attempt at responsive and if it were released as that, I would have no problem.  

Let’s be careful not to dilute the term responsive, it’s a whole experience - not just a matter of plopping some media queries into your CSS.