While I m not much of a reader, one of the lesser reasons I dropped out of uni, I recently ordered and read Ethan Marcotte s "Responsive Web Design", and I m glad I did.
For those that are unaware, the book is published by A Book Apart. They publish "brief books for people that make websites" – and that definitely describes this book as well. In only a few hours I 've went from cover to cover, which is a pretty impressive if you barely read those paper things anymore! ;-)
Just a note on the Title
While the title of the book specifically talks about Design, there s no actual designing involved in the book. You shouldn' t expect best practice UX studies on certain screen sizes.
What you should be ready for is a wealth of hands-on examples of using CSS for developing your responsive websites, many of Ethan s experiences and a shift of perspective from fixed width to fluid or hybrid development.
The Author: Ethan Marcotte
I didn' t know the author before reading the book (that's probably my own fault), but apparently he had given a presentation or two about this thing based on web standards and an ever evolving internet with more and more devices every single day. He coined it Responsive Web Design and wrapped it all up, after 2 years of study and application, in a book with no more than 140 pages.
His experience shines through in every example, explanation and anecdote, while not losing the relaxed yet witty type of writing.
Contents of the book
The book basically revolves around the design of a website to distinguish robots from real humans. This design contains many of the pitfalls that you are likely to encounter in your own responsive projects, from images flowing out of its container to what features are needed for mobile users, and it also talks you through a progressively enhanced image slider without the overhead when not supported.
It s chockful with CSS and markup examples, topped up with strategy and anecdotes and experiences. After reading this book thoroughly you are definitely ready to get started to changing your focus to responsive.
Summary
Definitely recommend getting the book, and reading through the next generation of web design practices.
