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Research Guides: Best Practices

This guide will help you create a usable, readable and well designed guide. It lists standards, best practices, and guidelines to follow when creating and updating guides.

Why Responsive Design?

Responsive design across a desktop, table and mobile device.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Websites with a responsive design make it easy to read content across a variety of devices.

It allows for interaction without needing to resize or scroll because the content is placed in a flexible grid that changes based on screen size.

Responsive design also removes the need to design separately for mobile devices since every device is served from a unified design.

Column Layout & Responsive Design

Responsive design helps you make beautiful websites! Yet, attention should be paid to where content is placed because it will get rearranged.

Hint:  group similarly themed content boxes in the same column so the information stays together.

There is a predictable pattern for how columns get rearranged. 

  • Top box will always be first.
  • Left column will be second.
  • Additional columns will wrap around below the top box and left column in order from left-to-right.
  • Footer box will always be last.

For instance, this three-column page layout where the highlight of the page is centered in the top-center of the page. 

Responsive design on a desktop computer example

Now consider this same layout on a phone.

Responsive design on a desktop computer example

Notice how the main content is not on top anymore. This important content might get overlooked since it is buried below the left column.

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