Responsive & Non-responsive theme versions

mtmfx

I am starting to notice that every new theme is responsive. So far the only themes I know that the responsive features can be turned off are seydesign and themeflood. If there are others I would like to know. I for one will not build a responsive site unless the client asks for it or his traffic demands it. I would like to see the theme devs offer a non-responsive version of their themes or at least a way to turn it off. I would like to hear what other people here think about this.

yuZool

Yes great idea.

I haven't released a responsive theme yet and like you say, it depends on the client, project, budget, traffic and other things.

When I do though, I'll include the option to switch it on / off. Glad seydesign and themeflood have taken this route.

DesigneMedia

Hi to everyone,
Just a quick question, is there something I can use for a Responsive layout for iframe?

I can not seem to contain the framed site with in the borders of my websites once it goes to a mobile platform.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers Justin

Jonathan Head

Hi @mtmfx,

All of our recently updated themes (Qube, Phelix, Dexture, and Flexture - with more on the way) that include "responsive" support can have that support turned off. In fact, it is "off" by default, since our themes come with built-in iPhone/iPad support as well (iPad support can be turned off, iPhone support cannot).

@DesigneMedia - Although I have not tested this personally (which means it may not work as I expect) you may be able to use this css code to make your iframe "responsive":

iframe { max-width: 100%; }

The above code should be pasted into the Page Inspector --> Header --> CSS --> Custom CSS field. Depending on the theme you are using, additional CSS may be required, but that should get you going in the right direction.

Hope this helps.

Jonathan
NimbleHost.com

mtmfx

I had a feeling your themes had this option. I just discovered your website and themes a little while ago and I am very impressed. Your blog is a great RW learning resource that everyone should check out. http://www.nimblehost.com/blog/ Thanks!

KS Gary

Hi,

Not to rain on anyone parade or anything, but thats not the direction I am taking.

As a developer, I will build Responsive themes for VERY specific reasons, not the least of is that there is a need for them.

Responsive themes allow the end user to create a single website that looks good on portable browsers.
Many, many, many users like ... love that as a built-in feature that they don't even have to worry about it.

In my personal experience with the REACT theme for RapidWeaver and the Apogee Design for Sandvox I have about 11K customers who love the responsive nature of the theme or design and only 1 who wanted to use the theme without it being responsive.

That is not to say that every theme needs to be responsive, nor does it mean that future development will be solely focused on responsive themes. But there are about a dozen or so responsive themes for RapidWeaver and 500 or more regular themes for RW. My plan is to add 5-6 more to my library along with some "regular" themes.

But for me, building a responsive theme, means that I am building a responsive theme. It just doesn't make sense to me to make two versions.

However, the market dictates a lot of those decisions for me, so if my inbox is flooded with people who want to use a theme but wont, specifically because it was designed to look & function well on mobile devices, then I might reconsider my strategy.

seyDoggy

@KS Gary 11K???? What the heck are the rest of doing wrong? Must be time for me to get into Sandvox themes.

yuZool

Wow, 11k? Is that a typo? I always overlook Sandvox...

Also @KS Gary has a good point there. This can also be called the "mobile first" approach. Designing for 320px first and going bigger.

Just switching on and off doesn't necessarily work and whether to go responsive or not is usually the first call when designing a theme / website.

I may take back what I said earlier - I only thought having that function is to appease the market as Gary said he might do as I know some people don't agree with responsive. But making that decision at the beginning may make a better end product either way.

michelangelo

Selectively applying responsive layout with" Responsive ON/Off ", available in the Options Panel of some of our themes. The theme works well in ipad/iphone in any case

That's useful if:
You need to add frames into the page.
You use fixed width tables.
You need to update an old project with pages that can't be responsive.
You use Blocks or other not responsive plugins.
You need a specific use not compatible with responsive features.

BlackShadow
PanelsPro
CreaTivetape

Michelangelo

WebKarnage

An interesting conversation for sure.

I would generally either make a responsive site or not, rather than generate a hash-up of responsive and non-responsive pages. I would generally for my own use not expect a theme initially designed as responsive then have options to not be responsive.

Where someone like Jonathan at Nimblehost has added options to existing themes that didn't have responsive capabilities initially then it's certainly something you need to offer an option to not have it there. Although adding this to existing themes always seems a surprising thing to do from my perspective, I suppose Jonathan's themes already have specific features for mobile, so it's maybe less of a jump.

It will be interesting to see where different developers do moving forward.

With best regards,
Karn.