CONCLUSION

I’m a high-minded idealist about the web. I believe in supporting accessibility, web standards, and openness, because I believe these principles define this medium. The web isn’t print or television—it’s a medium unto itself, and availability to everyone is what makes it great.

I’m also a pragmatist about the web. I’ve seen enough teams struggle with limited resources and tight deadlines to know that my idealism only goes so far. I’m sympathetic to organizations that are overwhelmed by the constant pace of change in digital media, fed up with the endless demands of keeping up with new technology.

How lucky, then, to be able to advocate for responsive design—an approach that satisfies both my practical and idealistic sides.

To anyone who might argue that responsive design takes longer, I’m confident that this approach saves time and resources in the long run—reducing the burden on overworked teams and ensuring a process that delivers more value. For anyone who might argue that responsive design is more expensive, I need only quote Mike Monteiro, Design Director at Mule Design, who said, “It’s going to cost you one thousand percent more not to do it” (http://bkaprt.com/gr/06-15/). Going responsive is a pragmatic solution for organizations who need to get the most from their limited time and budget (meaning everyone).

But I’m even more confident that responsive design is the right thing to do for the web. The approach presented in this book is an extension of the way the web has always worked. We don’t need to fragment and silo the web to make it work across different devices and screen sizes—it naturally works that way, as long as we don’t break it. Responsive design is simply the latest technique in a long tradition of making certain that the web is available and accessible to everyone, everywhere, on every device.

Whether you consider that to be an idealistic vision for this new medium or just good business sense, it’s the right thing to do. Go forth, and go responsive.