Saturday, February 25, 2017

web app - Responsive design: Should I go bigger than 1024px?


I have 6 responsive variations for a web app, from 916px to 320px wide. While running some internal tests, 2 out of 6 people mentioned that they would prefer if the app responded to bigger screens too, instead of stopping at 960px. This group is not exactly representative of future users, who will most likely have 1024 or 1280 px resolutions, but I'm afraid I might be applying what I do to what I think most users will do (I have a big screen, but my browser is never maximised).



Should I consider a further responsive step to, say, 1260px? Although most people have those mentioned resolutions, is there any data around what percentage uses the browser in 'fullscreen'?



Answer



The short answer is: if you already account for 6 different mobile screen resolutions, you should also account for many large screen resolutions - keep things consistent.


The long answer: You're over-complicating this. There're 28 "standard" resolutions and creating a dedicated layout for all of them takes too much precious time. Instead, you should follow what is know as The Goldilocks Approach: 3 screen sizes of "narrow", "regular", and "wide". You can increase it to 4 or 5 if you so desire (and have the resources), but mixing responsive break points with fluid sections (i.e. widths set in percentages) will cover you for nearly any screen. See Microsoft's new website for real-world example (4 break points).


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