At AsyncJS in Brighton last night, Jeremy Keith gave an overview of “Responsive enhancement” — adapting a layout in response to browser or device capabilities. After considering why fixed width designs are so prevalent, via a brief history lesson, we delved into the tools and methods by which a truly responsive design can be implemented, focussing primarily on size constraints but also touching on troubles surrounding speed.
That’s the best pun I could think of, pretty lame to be honest. My first foray into shared experimental CSS (proprietary WebKit properties used to create a clock animation) has fired up an interesting debate; where should the realm of cascaded style sheets end?
This clock experiment does not advocate such use of style sheets, it is instead used to demonstrate the capabilities and possibilities of WebKit’s transform and transition properties. It has inadvertently highlighted the controversial and unexpected nature by which web developers may use them. Should this cross-pollination of behaviour definition become standard? Is it risky? What might the side effects be?