ah teaches web design & development (Devices and their Fickle Owners lecture)

Devices and their Fickle Owners

Lecture outline

Thinking about how users use websites, and more options for laying out your site. Lecture slides will be made available on the day of the lecture (October 10).

Critique prep

Please come and sign-up for a timeslot for critique. I will briefly cover alternative activities you can partake in during critique time.

Please make sure to have materials ready for critique when your timeslot comes up.

In preparation for lecture...

Please close up any laptops, cellphones, Telstar Arcades, Game Boys and other 'beep-boop' devices.

PSA: SIAT Undergraduate Town Hall

SIAT has a number of curricular changes coming up. Hear from faculty, ask questions and provide feedback at 12:30pm on Tuesday, October 15 (2024) in SRYC 5140. Free food and beverages will be provided.

Recognizing the impact that the loss of Russell Taylor has had, SIAT Advising and other SFU student support will be present at the meeting.

Please RSVP at siats.ca/townhall2024

Any questions about the event can be directed to Andrew Hawryshkewich (UCC Chair) at andrew_h@sfu.ca

Points on breakpoints

How to aim for optimal breakpoints?

• Let your content decide
• Use relative units (always)
• Avoid an absolute process

Progressive enhancement

Build up from the basics

The layering of progressive enhancement:

• Content: Ensuring that the basic content works (clean, semantic, HTML).
• Styling: Applying styling and testing across devices (caniuse.com).
• Scripting: Enhancing the experience as much as possible.

Advanced progressive enhancement

(aka. Responsive Web Design)

We are taking a device-agnostic approach, as the screen isn't our only variable:

• Problematic browsers
• Slow connections
• Small screens
• Touch first
• Content structure
• ... etc.

Degredation vs. enhancement

Wait, so what's different?

Graceful degredation: Build for the biggest and bestest, making sure that the site is still usable for 'lower-class' browsers.

Progressive enhancement: Build a common standard for all browsers (upper and lower class), then offer additional functionality for browsers which can use it.

Consistency

Internal vs. external

Internal consistency is consistency between the elements within your own site, while external consistency is consistency between the elements of your site with other websites.

Responsive images

Thinking about when and how to use responsive images includes a variety of factors:

• User's resolution or screen sizes
• Dimensions of the image
• Breakpoints

Sizing images

When sizing images, consider the maximum pixel dimension the image would be displayed at and the possible pixel density of the device.

Positioning

One way to move things on the web

Some options:

• static — the default, things occur as ordered in the HTML
• relative — similar to static, but allows for further instructions through 'left', 'right', 'top', 'bottom' to move relative to its original position
• absolute — positions relative to the viewport through 'left', 'right', 'top', 'bottom'
• fixed — similar to absolute, but will not scroll (stays in view)
• sticky — fixed within container, relative otherwise

Today's code tutorial

Please download:

• The positioning starter kit from 339.ah.link/t04
• The responsive images starter kit from 339.ah.link/t05