Delivering the best possible experience to your audience across all devices is no longer a nice-to-have, but a must-have. With the release last month of Joe Casabona’s new book Responsive Design with WordPress, there is now a comprehensive resource for developers on how to utilize what WordPress offers to create a responsive site.
Creating a responsive site is “not just for design, but for performance,” Joe says. His book not only covers responsive layout, but how to implement responsible responsive design—i.e., delivering features in the most optimized way. His book covers principles as well as implementation, including how to create responsive themes and how to plan responsive layouts for common WordPress templates.
Why is responsive design important? According to Joe, “30% of traffic in 2013 came from mobile devices, and it’s projected that it will grow to 50% in 2015.”
Indeed, a report by public relations firm Walker Sands shows that mobile devices accounted for 28% of total website traffic in Q3 2013, up 67% over Q3 2012. And the growth in mobile online shopping over the 2013 holidays was staggering. Shopping via smartphones and tablets was up 40% over 2012 on Black Friday, and up 55.4% on Cyber Monday.
People are finally seeing it now. I’ve had clients ask me how to get their site to work on mobile. It’s not just designers pitching it—it’s customers and clients that are asking for it.
So…Joe decided to write a book about it! Responsive Design with WordPress came out December 16, 2013 and can be found on Peachpit or Amazon.
What were the biggest issues you’ve had to tackle while building responsive sites?
Suzy Brannon started her career writing for TechTV and CNET. She has worked as a product manager for numerous sites, and is an avid baker.
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