There are some things I always will remember like it was yesterday that I have learned or read that have helped me along in my web career. Whether it was remembering my od friend the Mosaic browser, when I switched to using Macromedia Fireworks as my vector image tool, the times when I bought such career-altering books such as Laura Lemay's SAMS Tech Yourself Web Publishing with HTML and XHTML in 21 Days or Jeffrey Zeldmans Designing With Web Standards or Eric Meyer's CSS: The Definitive Guide.
These are some of the things that will stick with me until I leave this earth, and in the meantime, I have something that is added to that list.Something that I think has changed the landscape of the entire web industry and for every developer and designer alike. That is when Ethan Marcotte coined the term, «Responsive Web Design»
Thank you, Ethan Marcotte.
Responsive Web Design is « ...the combination of flexible grids, flexible images, and media queries. We help take the complexity out of responsive design with details on Design, Development and Strategy. (Taken directly from the website) » and you can learn more about it there and many more places such as at A List Apart and MDN.
There used to be a podcast about Responsive Web Design named (yes, you guessed it!) The Responsive Web Design Podcast, which I miss terribly. Why? Guests were great in sharing what they were working on and talking about responsive web design. Plus, Ethan Marcotte and Karen McGrane are two people in the industry I admire, respect (among many), and follow.
There is even a book, if you did not know this. It should be a part of your library. Really. It should.
Learning Responsive Web Design has been one of the best things that I have had the undertaking of doing. I picked apart that example from A List Apart like a surgeon finely does surgery. When others moved to RWD, I picked apart their layouts as well in order to learn it. The I was able to implement it which in turn I was able to craft websites for my clients using RWD.
Ethan wrote in the ALA article;
Our work is defined by its transience, often refined or replaced within a year or two. Inconsistent window widths, screen resolutions, user preferences, and our users’ installed fonts are but a few of the intangibles we negotiate when we publish our work, and over the years, we’ve become incredibly adept at doing so.
We've come into the age of CSS Grid Layout and Flex Layout, and soon(?) Masonry Layout. The future certainly does change rapidly in tech, and we have to be adept to embrace and implement those changes when they come. Ethan only started the journey for me to be this adept when he coined that term in 2010.
Not only is it wonderful to know follow your phenomenal work and monumental contributions to the web over the years, it is a pleasure and I am grateful to know you and to have been able to be a part of this wonderful thing we call web design.
Happy 10th birthday, Responsive Web Design.