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
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.
-
ZorinOS 17.1 Released, Includes Improved Windows App Support
If you need or desire to run Windows applications on Linux, there's one distribution intent on making that easier for you and its new release further improves that feature.
-
Linux Market Share Surpasses 4% for the First Time
Look out Windows and macOS, Linux is on the rise and has even topped ChromeOS to become the fourth most widely used OS around the globe.
-
KDE’s Plasma 6 Officially Available
KDE’s Plasma 6.0 "Megarelease" has happened, and it's brimming with new features, polish, and performance.
-
Latest Version of Tails Unleashed
Tails 6.0 is based on Debian 12 and includes GNOME 43.
-
KDE Announces New Slimbook V with Plenty of Power and KDE’s Plasma 6
If you're a fan of KDE Plasma, you'll be thrilled to hear they've announced a new Slimbook with an AMD CPU and the latest version of KDE Plasma desktop.
-
Monthly Sponsorship Includes Early Access to elementary OS 8
If you want to get a glimpse of what's in the pipeline for elementary OS 8, just set up a monthly sponsorship to help fund its continued existence.