Fluid images in responsive web design

Responsive web design simply means making websites that can adapt to the size of the visitor's viewport. The goal is for content to render differently depending on the device or screen size so that visitors have an optimal experience no matter how they access a website. The primarily benefit of responsive web design is that sites load quickly without any distortions, so users don't need to manually resize anything to view content. Take this KeyCDN blog site for example.

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Content:

• Beginners Guide To Responsive Web Design
• Adaptive Images for Responsive Designs
• HTML5 - Responsive Web Design
• Responsive Images: Fundamentals And Implementation Methods
• Fluid Images in a Variable Proportion Layout
• Responsive Web Design: 50 Examples and Best Practices
• Responsive Web Design is Solid Gold

Beginners Guide To Responsive Web Design

The line between mobile and web development is more and more blurred, and new web apps have to adapt to any new devices or screens. In this Refcard, learn the basics of responsive design to help your app reach the most users possible.

Selecting a layout option is typically a core design that is made at the start of a web design initiative. The primary layout options are: fixed, fluid, responsive, and adaptive. The fixed layout option, commonly referred to as the static layout option, establishes a hard-set value for the size of the layout.

This approach was popular years ago when web designers wanted to assure that a given layout was an exact size. The problem with this approach is that devices with a resolution smaller than the fixed layout size were forced to scroll in order to fully use the application.

Conversely, those with larger screen resolutions found themselves with a large amount of unused space around the application. The fluid layout option is similar to the static option, but the static values for the size of the layout are replaced with a percentage. The fluid approach provided a better experience for devices that had a larger resolution, but those devices with a smaller resolution still had usability issues. With web designers realizing that fixed and fluid layout options both provide challenges to providing a pleasant user experience, the concept of adaptive layout options was created.

An adaptive layout option determines the resolution or type of device making the HTTP request and routes to an appropriate web design template. As an example, users on devices with low screen resolutions might route to a product-list.

Meanwhile, users with high resolution desktop computers would route to a product-list. With the adaptive approach, several different template versions can exist to accommodate a wide-range of devices.

The major drawback to this approach is the additional time and resources required to design, test, and maintain several versions of the same template information. Learning from the challenges presented in the fixed, fluid, and adaptive layout options, the responsive approach provides a solution that accommodates a wide range of screen resolutions without having to duplicate the effort across multiple template files. A responsive layout option breaks the screen into multiple segments.

Then, as the screen resolution changes, the segments adjust programmatically — readjusting on the fly. With the dominance of Bootstrap and Google Material Design , a responsive web design has become an expectation for web-site consumers — knowing they can load a site on their desktop or smart devices without a compromise in usability. One of the most important aspects to any form of communication is the ability to render text in a readable way.

For web design, this translates to the font that is being used. However, one of the biggest challenges is how to best size fonts within a web project. Currently, font sizing options are classified as relative font units, with options for: pixels, em, rem, percent, viewport units, and fluid typography.

Long before responsive web design was concept, the idea of using points as a size reference was popular in typography and other forms of publishing. Points are fixed in their size, which presents similar challenges with static layout options — they are not scalable and do not respond to responsive web design view ports.

A simple example is displayed below:. As computers became mainstream, the concept of pixels was introduced — referring to the size units being displayed on the computer screen. The standard behind pixels is that one pixel is equal to one dot on a computer monitor. Pixel-based designs became popular to render web documents with a pixel-perfect presentation.

Like points, pixels are fixed in their size and present the same challenges as point-based designs. To address the challenges with pixel font units, em was introduced to provide a scalable solution to pixel font units. Basically, em are scalable units employed by the browser to compute pixel font units. Consider the following CSS example:.

When the html tag is rendered, the font-size would be set to 24px, which is the product of 12 px x 2 em. In taking this approach, em allows legacy pixel technology to be utilized, but in a manner that is scalable and adaptable to responsive web design.

With respect to font units, the rem approach is similar to the em approach — introducing a manner to determine pixel-based sizes in a responsive design.

The logic is the same as the em example above:. Again, when the html tag is rendered, the font-size would be set to 24px, which is the product of 12 px x 2 rem. Based upon the examples above, there is no difference between em and rem with respect to relative font units. Where a difference can be noted is when multiple layers of em-based styles are introduced — since em employs inheritance with all parent objects. On the other hand, rem is only relative to the html root font-size.

A simple way to remember this key difference is to think of rem being the root-only version of em. With this distinction in place, web designers typically implement em over rem. This is similar to the em approach. The percent approach scales the size based upon a parent object. Consider the following example:. This is referred to as viewport units. The following options are available:. In the following example, the 3. Fluid Typography builds upon the viewport approach, allowing computations to exist within the CSS structure.

Consider the following CSS configuration:. In the example above, the font size will range from 12px to 20px based upon view ports of px to px. The benefit to fluid typography is the higher degree of resizing based upon the dynamic size of the viewport.

In responsive web design, the ability for images to be responsive is equally as important as the font units. However, based on the resolution of the client accessing the responsive web application, image quality can become an issue — such as important aspects of an image bering no longer easy to notice… or available. The quickest and easiest approach to making sure an image responds to the size of the current container that will house the image is to use the max-width attribute in either the CSS or directly on the image tag:.

The challenge with this approach is that the resolution of the image may not scale well as the size of the view area changes. Legacy browsers do not have an understanding of this attribute, which can make use of max-width a show-stopper. A challenge worth noting with respect to responsive images is the concept of art direction. Art direction is making sure the focus or intent of the image is maintained as the responsive web design renders different viewport sizes.

Consider a photo of family celebrating the sunset on a beach. When the image is in full view, the setting sun appears off to the right, the family is in the middle of the frame, and the remainder of the image is populated with ocean, sand, and a darkening sky. Devices with smaller view resolutions may cause the setting sun to be gone, or not noticeable — with the size of the family shrinking to a portion that is no longer easy to identify.

To the user, this may start to appear as a photo of the beach near dusk. Another example might be an image that includes a map for an upcoming event.

At higher resolutions, the user can become familiar with the location based on the included landmarks. However, at a lower resolution, it might be impossible to see anything on the map. This is similar to the adaptive layout option described earlier. Based on the size of the container, different versions of the image are displayed. Here is an example:.

As one might expect, this approach requires maintaining multiple versions of the image to handle varying device resolutions. Another challenge to this approach is that the browser client is not an ideal decision-maker when selecting the right version of the image to display.

Plus, there is the need to maintain multiple versions of the same image. There are open source JavaScript libraries that have been created to help address the challenge with responsive images. Picturefill and HiSRC have been created to allow web designers more freedom with their responsive image design.

These can be key solutions toward handling issues related to art direction. For a server-side solution, Adaptive Images provides a solution that delivers the right image size based on the resolution of the device making the request. Using the server-side approach eliminates the need for any changes to be made on the web client tier. Including these libraries in your project allows web designers the ability to maintain more control over responsive images to address art direction challenges.

If you are a web designer working on a project without access to the original image creator, getting multiple image versions can be a challenge.

In those cases, developers find themselves creating alternate versions of the image. To make things easier, the Responsive Image Breakpoints Generator site can be utilized to generate the optimal resolution for responsive image sizes. Simply navigate to the site, upload your initial image, then use the controls on the form to have the best version of your image created. Cloudinary has even introduced an API to generate images programmatically.

Over 2 million developers have joined DZone. Refcard Responsive Web Design. Written By. Table of Contents. Fixed The fixed layout option, commonly referred to as the static layout option, establishes a hard-set value for the size of the layout. Fluid The fluid layout option is similar to the static option, but the static values for the size of the layout are replaced with a percentage. Adaptive With web designers realizing that fixed and fluid layout options both provide challenges to providing a pleasant user experience, the concept of adaptive layout options was created.

Responsive Learning from the challenges presented in the fixed, fluid, and adaptive layout options, the responsive approach provides a solution that accommodates a wide range of screen resolutions without having to duplicate the effort across multiple template files.

Point Long before responsive web design was concept, the idea of using points as a size reference was popular in typography and other forms of publishing. Rem With respect to font units, the rem approach is similar to the em approach — introducing a manner to determine pixel-based sizes in a responsive design.

Em vs. Rem Based upon the examples above, there is no difference between em and rem with respect to relative font units. Art Direction Challenges A challenge worth noting with respect to responsive images is the concept of art direction.

Open Source Solutions There are open source JavaScript libraries that have been created to help address the challenge with responsive images.

Adaptive Images for Responsive Designs

The number of handheld devices operating worldwide is growing exponentially. What can we say; the mobile web is a huge thing these days. That why in this post we write about responsive web design and show some good examples from the industry. On the one hand, it is a good thing since we have an opportunity to address issues quickly and efficiently, locating information on the spot. On the other hand, this reality has created a challenge for all those who provide users with information. The deal is, in the late s, serving information for users was a piece of cake. You just needed several versions of the same website: one for mobile phones, the other one for desktops.

HTML5 - Responsive Web Design

When you obtain a bespoke web design and a superb UX, somewhere in the middle, a responsive design happens. When new clients approach us, almost everybody wants a mobile version of their website. Therefore, responsive web design is currently a widely accepted standard that lets creating a consistent, yet customizable, experience across every device—including those that are about to enter the market. It contributes to page speed, which also results in better SEO, ranking, and higher conversion. As the user switches between his laptop to iPhone, the responsive site should automatically accommodate for resolution, image size, and scripting abilities. Responsive design development in Dropbox. Dropbox has done a great job of using a fluid grid and adjustable visuals to craft a standout responsive web site. It changes the font color change to accommodate the background color and fixes orientation too, when shifting from desktop to smaller devices. In an effort to reduce the bounce rate, a small arrow hints desktop users to scroll down for more content. The same arrow is absent from mobile devices, assuming that users naturally scroll on a touchscreen device.

Responsive Images: Fundamentals And Implementation Methods

Website Development. As you look at your website, does it appropriately adjust to fit the size of the screen? Does your website look great on desktop, on tablets, and on mobile? If your website adjusts well to different screen sizes, that means you have a fluid website design.

Fluid Images in a Variable Proportion Layout

When Responsive Web Design was introduced to the developer community, it brought on a significant change in how we think about our web sites as well as how we develop our projects. Fixed layouts use exact pixel widths which means that the size of the page components will be the same for all resolutions. Then a width is applied to keep the content from expanding across the entire page. Fluid layouts are also sometimes referred to as a liquid layout. To make the element more flexible, the previous example could be revised to use a percentage width instead. This technique is great for small resolutions but what happens when the resolution of the screen goes wider than your desired width?

Responsive Web Design: 50 Examples and Best Practices

The line between mobile and web development is more and more blurred, and new web apps have to adapt to any new devices or screens. In this Refcard, learn the basics of responsive design to help your app reach the most users possible. Selecting a layout option is typically a core design that is made at the start of a web design initiative. The primary layout options are: fixed, fluid, responsive, and adaptive. The fixed layout option, commonly referred to as the static layout option, establishes a hard-set value for the size of the layout. This approach was popular years ago when web designers wanted to assure that a given layout was an exact size.

Responsive Web Design is Solid Gold

Responsive web design RWD is a modern web design approach that creates dynamic changes to the appearance of a website and adjusts the content of websites and webpages to automatically render or display on all devices or screen sizes, whether it's a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone and provides an optimal viewing experience. Responsive web design also raises user experience , which leads to a positive perception of our brand and business. If the user can access our website easily on all platforms, they're more likely to return to us for more business in the future, leading to a higher conversion rate for our website.

In this article, we'll learn about the concept of responsive images — images that work well on devices with widely differing screen sizes, resolutions, and other such features — and look at what tools HTML provides to help implement them. This helps to improve performance across different devices. Responsive images are just one part of responsive design , a future CSS topic for you to learn. Let's examine a typical scenario. A typical website may contain a header image and some content images below the header.

Responsive design is pivotal to a successful website. In this article, we will pay close attention to responsive images, in particular, including their technical aspects and implementation. By definition, a responsive image is an image with a size that responds well, or adjusts, to screen resolution changes. In other words, responsive images work smoothly on various devices with different sizes and resolutions. So, what is there to know about responsive design and images? This was only logical as more users consumers switched to using mobile devices. As designers needed to discover ways to make their sites look equally well on desktop, smartphone, and tablet, flexible layouts started sneaking in.

If that sounds appealing to you, feel free to sign up to have new blog entries emailed to you. But those are still in progress. The article turns ten today, but the concept turned ten in early April. In that talk, I showed folks how I created a flexible, device-agnostic layout using fluid grids , flexible images , and media queries : the three ingredients of a responsive design.