Responsive web design, in my opinion, represents huge potential for business web development. It can be so easy to view it as just another buzzword, more marketing jargon if you may but if you take the time to understand what is means for web development, you will see its pretty hot with huge potential.
Many people, I suspect, are unclear on what exactly Responsive web design is, what does it mean. Indeed, I thought ' ooh not another book on fluid layouts '. Far from it, I can assure you. The author moves through a well worked out movie website project to show that Responsive web design is not a huge single monolithic thing but instead a series of existing technologies ( HTML5, CSS3 ) and design techniques ( flexible grid layout, flexible images and media and media queries ). The majority of the book naturally focuses on HTML5 and CSS3 and the powerful enhancements these technologies bring forth. In addition to their application in Responsive web design the author explores new HTML5 elements ( the semantically meaningful nav element and many more for example ) and shows the vast improvements in CSS3 aesthetics. I particularly loved the simplicity of Text Shadows but we also have Transitions, Transformations and Animations. All very, very useful stuff.
HTML5 and CSS3 are maturing technologies, best to keep this in mind. Hence, to make available the majority of their features in older browsers such as Internet Explorer 6,7 and to a lesser extent 8, not to mention running your site across multiple browsers, a JavaScript tool called Modernizr is required. The last chapter explores this tool.
Readers should have familiarity with previous versions of HTML markup and CSS selectors to gain maximum benefit. The book is really a joy to read and perhaps a launching pad for interesting developments yet to come. Wonderful stuff.
