Learning how to create mobile site, advice appreciated!

Hello!

So I took a few years off to raise kids, and now I'm trying to get back on the horse. I created a site back in 2012 that the client is not sure that she wants to redesign, but wants a mobile version. It uses your basic divs and css, no php or anything even. I'd love suggestions on where to start---info, tutorials, and links. (When I google, I get way too many companies wanting my money!)

The site was not created using responsive design, but if I can get her interested in a redesign, I'll start looking into that. I know a little about it, but its high on my list to learn/master.

Thanks for your help!
Jenny

 

We use foundation.zurbdotcom framework for all our responsive sites.

Good luck, let me know how it goes.

 

If they want a mobile design on a site the used 2012 technology, then they are not going to get it without some redesign. The among of change necessary will depend on how well it was written in the first place. It might be possible that all it will need is some alternate styling using media queries. However if it was written using rigid layout it may need substantial work in the markup to redo the basic underlying structure to support multiple device types.

As for foundation it is just another bloated member of the junk jungle growing up on the edge of internet swamp, and making wannabes think they are developers.

 

themaelane: Take foundation framework for a test drive and find out for yourself. I generally ask for an opinion and then find out for myself. You can also try out bootstrap framework. We have settled with foundation.

 

Consider Bootstrap; it's easy to implement and simplifies layouts for mobile devices.

 

First tip, anyone saying "use bootstrap" probably doesn't know enough about building a website to be flapping their gums on the subject. The fat bloated idiotic pile of manure is such utter and complete bootcrap, if you ARE using it do yourself a favor and find a stick to scrape it off with. I fail to see how starting out with more code, to then write more code in the form of PRESENTATIONAL use of classes in the markup simplifies a damned thing or is magically "easier" -- quite the opposite in fact. ONLY reason I can figure out anyone would use it by choice is being so ignorant of HTML and CSS they have NO DAMNED BUSINESS making websites in the first place!

Second, responsive design is NOT about even thinking about "design for mobile" vs. "Design for desktop" -- at least when done PROPERLY. It's about designing for EVERYTHING and when done properly, your breakpoints for when layout changes and other modifications to the page are done should be based not on specific devices, but the needs of the content. It's why I prefer flipping it around to start out with the non-media query capable layout (instead of the halfwit "start with mobile" crap) so I can then narrow the window, and when the layout breaks, there's my breakpoint for a media query.

As to making a site responsive, it depends on how it was built -- and simply saying it uses DIV's and CSS doesn't tell us if it was done properly. As I've said the past six or seven years since responsive layout became a thing, it is just the next logical step in accessible design and using HTML/CSS PROPERLY. If the site was built with semantic markup (aka using HTML properly), separation of presentation from content, progressively enhanced so that it gracefully degrades, with proper media targets and a for-screen semi-fluid elastic layout, making it responsive should be a no-brainer that takes the addition of a quarter K of markup or less and at most 4k of CSS -- a twenty minute job.

BUT, if it was sleazed out any old way with the markup saying what things look like instead of what they ARE, with endless pointless STYLE attributes, STYLE inlined in the markup, halfwit idiotic presentational classes like "Col-20", "Yellow" or "left", no media targets or sending style to "ALL", nothing remotely resembling a logical document structure in a fixed width layout with fixed metric (px) fonts further mated to crap that has no business on websites in the first place like fixed width image sliders or other pointless scripttardery... Well, then you truly are up **** creek and have to throw it all out and start over from scratch.

Without seeing the site in question, it could go either way.