What customer do you optimize your site for? Probably the majority, right? So, that probably means Internet Explorer. But should you really be optimizing your site for the group least likely to recognize good design? Half-kidding of course, for those of you who actually prefer Internet Explorer. But for many, it’s simply a default.
And as desktop monitors get wider and wider, incentivizing a horizontal Web layout, the popularity of the iPad and other tablets are heading in the exact opposite vertical direction. So what do you do? How do you design for everyone?
The Toronto Standard hopes to do it with their “liquid layout” that automatically adapts to the reader’s viewing device. All content is resized and reordered to fit the smartphone, tablet or PC. While one can only assume the leaps in programming skills necessary to create this functionality, if you’re currently resizing your content for physical layout, mobile and traditional devices, how much time is that taking you?