When does responsive design stop being a thing? May 28th, 2015

Recently clients seem to be asking for things by technique rather than answers to challenges that require resolution or results.

I’ve been around a bit, I started out building websites with tables, if you need to know that was back around 1999. Not long after this I was introduced to CSS layouts and never looked back. I lived through the fixed vs fluid debate, worked 20 hour days for weeks on end to fix presentational inconsistencies in browsers such as IE5.

The hair that I have left is turning grey, no finger pointing but Microsoft might have had its part to play in this.

In short I learnt what works and what to avoid.

More recently I’ve worked through 2-3 JavaScript libraries, HTML frameworks and more recently CSS processing such as sass.

None of these were ever things asked for, instead they were the way to work to be most efficient and productive at that given time.

A common trait throughout has been that once our clients start asking for specific techniques or technologies they become disappointed. They feel empowered knowing a little of what’s hot but expect way to much from these mysterious concepts that they’ve heard (we’ve preached) so much about.

When evaluating potential clients and employers alike I’m far more interested in their individual challenges and macro requirements than which technique or technology they would like the eventual solution to be executed with.

Should we be risking the future success of our clients businesses by specifying or being contractually bound to deliver specifics before understand what’s ultimately needed?