I am currently studying responsive concept and media queries, and I havent be able to understand the purpose of it, since we can use "%" for size properties in our CSS files. In fact for example in my CSS file if I add the "width" style property like this : "{width: 70%;}", my Web page will fit into any screen sizes because it will take 70% of it, without regarding the screen ? Or maybe she will be displayed with too small characters, that would be the explanation of why we use responsive methods ? It seems like maybe I didnt really get the purpose of it. Thank you for all your help.
Why do we use Responsive methods while % properties make our page adaptable to any screen size?
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1 Answers
Have you used a news website? In broad devices like laptops, there are multiple columns across the screens. While you use the same website on mobile phone, a single column takes all the available space. This is where responsive design and media queries come in. You can observe the same effect almost everywhere on the web.
Suppose if the news website had set the width of each column as 25%, the it would look good on a laptop, but the width of each column would be then very less when you view it in mobile phone (as 25% of mobile screen width would be very low) and this would make the text unreadable. This is why % units don't work everywhere and we need responsive design and media queries.
This is not the only use of media queries. You can even specify how your webpage will look when printed with the help of media queries. Modern css frameworks like Bootstrap are completely based on media queries
Still if you have any doubts related to the use of responsive techniques like media queries, you can just google "uses of media query" or "uses of responsive design" and you will get tons of articles and posts on their usability.
The use of % and other units can be done to a small extent but they don't give us the freedom responsive design gives us. Responsive design is more than using such units.
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