Responsive web page layout by display size
Between Small and Large
A desktop browser accessing the website displays both the navigation bar and the block with the text on top of each other, as shown in Figure 6. However, if the user scales the browser window down to a width of less than 640 pixels, the browser switches to mobile mode because of the adaptive CSS layout, drops the navigation element and only displays the text block (Figure 7).

The 640 pixel-wide screen of, for example, an iPhone 5 also shows the mobile version without navigation aids because of the media query (Figure 8).
The second media query in Listing 2, line 25, queries yet another display attribute. Using (orientation:landscape)
, it determines whether the display is in landscape mode.
If this is the case, the code from the sidebyside.css.tt
file in Listing 4 is used; this shows the navigation and text elements next to one another, assigning 70 percent of space to the content and only 30 percent to navigation.
Listing 4
sidebyside.css.tt
The value for the display
variable of the navigation element is set to block
in Listing 5. This overwrites the value of none
, which possibly occurred in the previous media query, and restores the block
value initially defined in the static CSS statement block.
The browser works its way through a list of media queries from the top down and overwrites the assigned values if the specified conditions are met. As a result, both blocks appear side by side, as shown in Figure 9.
Although the first media query only allows the text block without the navigation block, the landscape query overwrites all previous settings and lines up the blocks side by side at a 70:30 ratio.
Modular System
The tpage script, courtesy of the CPAN module Template::Toolkit, builds the page from the template items,
tpage --include_path templates templates/\ test.html.tt >test.html
thus allowing a developer-friendly modular layout with full performance on the client and server sides; no assembly of page parts at run time is required because it already happens at page creation time.
Alternatively, you could instruct the browser to load only certain external CSS pages when a given media query returns a true value. However, each loading action costs precious time – the precompiled website is more efficient at run time.
If you want to test this quickly with a web server running locally, you can do it with a short script that uses the CPAN Mojolicious::Lite module, as shown in Listing 5. The script launches a fully functional web server on port 4080 of your localhost. Browsers accessing this will display the page differently depending on whether the browser window is wide, narrow, or in landscape format. To communicate with the Template Toolkit, the script requires the Mojolicious::Plugin::TtRenderer CPAN module.
Listing 5
mojo
If you want to delve deeper into this subject, I recommend the book Responsive Web Design with HTML 5 and CSS 3 [6]. It presents a number of practical application examples and explains techniques for dynamic page layout and adjusting image sizes for various mobile and desktop devices.
Mike Schilli
Mike Schilli works as a software engineer with Yahoo! in Sunnyvale, California. He can be contacted at mailto:mschilli@perlmeister.com. Mike's homepage can be found at http://perlmeister.com.
Infos
- GitHub repository with the contents of USArundbrief.com: https://github.com/mschilli/usarundbrief
- Apple Thunderbolt display: http://www.apple.com/thunderbolt/
- "Responsive Web Design" by Ethan Marcotte, 2010: http://alistapart.com/article/responsive-web-design/
- Listings for this article: ftp://ftp.linux-magazin.com/pub/listings/magazine/166
- Device pixel density tests: http://bjango.com/articles/min-device-pixel-ratio/
- Frain, Ben. Responsive Web Design with HTML 5 and CSS 3. Packt Publishing, 2012
« Previous 1 2
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Direct Download
Read full article as PDF:
Price $2.95
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Find SysAdmin Jobs
News
-
MNT Seeks Financial Backing for New Seven-Inch Linux Laptop
MNT Pocket Reform is a tiny laptop that is modular, upgradable, recyclable, reusable, and ships with Debian Linux.
-
Ubuntu Flatpak Remix Adds Flatpak Support Preinstalled
If you're looking for a version of Ubuntu that includes Flatpak support out of the box, there's one clear option.
-
Gnome 44 Release Candidate Now Available
The Gnome 44 release candidate has officially arrived and adds a few changes into the mix.
-
Flathub Vying to Become the Standard Linux App Store
If the Flathub team has any say in the matter, their product will become the default tool for installing Linux apps in 2023.
-
Debian 12 to Ship with KDE Plasma 5.27
The Debian development team has shifted to the latest version of KDE for their testing branch.
-
Planet Computers Launches ARM-based Linux Desktop PCs
The firm that originally released a line of mobile keyboards has taken a different direction and has developed a new line of out-of-the-box mini Linux desktop computers.
-
Ubuntu No Longer Shipping with Flatpak
In a move that probably won’t come as a shock to many, Ubuntu and all of its official spins will no longer ship with Flatpak installed.
-
openSUSE Leap 15.5 Beta Now Available
The final version of the Leap 15 series of openSUSE is available for beta testing and offers only new software versions.
-
Linux Kernel 6.2 Released with New Hardware Support
Find out what's new in the most recent release from Linus Torvalds and the Linux kernel team.
-
Kubuntu Focus Team Releases New Mini Desktop
The team behind Kubuntu Focus has released a new NX GEN 2 mini desktop PC powered by Linux.