RESS Essentials

A practical introduction to programming responsive websites using an innovative methodology in web design and development

Overview

• Easy-to-follow tutorials on implementing RESS application patterns
• Information flow diagrams which will help you understand various RESS architectures with ease
• Perform browser feature detection and store this information on server side

In Detail

RESS is a new methodology in the world of web design and development. It attempts to solve the problems that accompany the RWD (responsive web design) approach to web design. RESS is still in its infancy, but it is growing at an exponential rate.

RESS Essentials shows you how to make server-side applications smarter and more aware of a visitor’s environment limitations (device, screen size, and browser). This allows you to create faster and more reliable websites. Through this book, you will build a solid base of knowledge on RESS-related technologies, while the step-by-step tutorials will help you to create your own RESS system.

This book is an introduction to RESS alchemy and gives you an incentive to build your own RESS lab. It will give you a broad overview of the multiple techniques used to code responsive websites in responsible ways. Beginning with an overview of RWD, you will learn the steps involved in setting up RWD for client-side development. You will then learn how to scale images using client- and server-side technology. By the end of this book, you will have learned about the implementation of RESS application patterns, browser feature detection, and various RESS architectures. RESS Essentials will also teach you how to use jQuery with some RWD design patterns and how to employ REST API for RWD pages.

What you will learn from this book

• Write your own code to detect user screen size and store this information on server side
• Install and integrate the WURFL device detection library with your application–both cloud and standalone versions
• Apply RWD principles to write HTML and CSS
• Use HTML5 Boilerplate and its jQuery components
• Integrate other CSS libraries with responsive grids using Gridpack
• Create a RESS application based on RESTful API with the PHP SLIM framework
• Develop jQuery plugins to handle web page components in responsive ways
• Implement your own responsive images application

Approach

This is a step-by-step, practical guide which will introduce you to RESS and its key features.

Who this book is written for

This book is aimed primarily at web developers interested in writing applications that leverage both client- and server-side code to optimise content for various devices.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Why Does RWD Change the Internet?
Chapter 2: Sample RWD Setup for Client-Side Development
Chapter 3: Server Side Setup – Device Detection Libraries
Chapter 4: Sample RESS Page
Chapter 5: Responsive Images Client- and Server-Side Approaches
Chapter 6: Performance
Chapter 7: Extending with jQuery
Chapter 8: Employing a REST API for RWD