http://www.coffeecup.com/help/articles/ … esponsive/

Just in case my question was misinterpreted.....I want to know which 3 or 4 pieces of software should I focus on as priority?
RSD I'd imagine would be the first [I am presuming], but then .....what about bootstrap, foundation, RLM or any of the others?

I already have a few websites that people have asked me to do for them as well.

I'm not sure if the last reply was directed at me.

Thank you.

If you have RSD2, you don't need the other ones you mentioned. I would perhaps then go on to Web Form builder, Responsive Content Slider and the very useful for SEO: Sitemapper, Website Insight and Sonar.

For now:
1. Coffeecup Responsive Site Designer 2
2. Coffeecup Responsive Content Slider
3. Foundation (just spend some time at their documents)
4. Flexbox (just get to know this)
5. Focus on a CMS perhaps? I'd recommend CraftCMS (and Mijingo) for the great tutorial video's.

– Richard

Inger and Richard,

Thank you both for your advice, much appreciated.
I have taken note and will see how much I can get done, a lot to learn in little time.

Cheers,
Carina

I would ignore Foundation and Bootstrap - they are not needed in the first three weeks. They are "frameworks" that use specially defined classes, and some javascript utilities within the framework using specially defined classes. You can create a site on a blank Foundation or Bootstrap template, and not use a single class or javascript that comes with the framework. Anything the frameworks do, can be recreated manually in RSD with your own breakpoints, and supplied javascript. For example, one of the Frameworks might have a class name already defined in the framework, like "alert." Instead of creating a class that says there is a background color, text color, border...., you just select the ".alert" class in a drowndown menu. There are a great many classes like this. You can also do column layouts (not completely implemented yet) and set a class to only show the element on small screens, or just large screens. But since you would be using the RSD gui, that benefit is muted compared to handcoding. The frameworks come with their own supplied utilities for sliders, if you decide you really need one. If you want to make a nice navigation menu that collapses into a single icon and you do not already know how or do not have the script, just follow any of the tutorials for the framework you choose, or just ask in here - someone should be able to help. I think most people here choose Foundation, because their website is easier to read. But the vast majority of the net - uses Bootstrap, for right or wrong, because it was introduced by Twitter before Foundation and was more refined at first than Foundation when released (but Foundation seems to have been kept up to date faster - my understanding). If I was handcoding, I would use Bootstrap because it has more built in breakpoint/media query classes. If you want tabs in your site, just use the tab feature of the framework, instead of using third party javascript.

As what to concentrate on, I would say that is hard to answer without knowing what your prior knowledge is, and what the goal is. Were your last sites you made responsive and used media queries? I assume your new sites would be responsive. You should at least read some of the article "guides/tutorials" about the responsive grid - except going forward, DO NOT design desktop down - that concept is now antiquated, you should be designing mobile first (in short because all new modern frameworks are doing this for a lot of good reasons despite how un-intuitive it may seem at first). Since you are already familiar with CSS, learning what the "grid" is, should literally take an hour or less. It might take a bit longer to learn some of the particularities of using RSD, and how RSD uses classes (it is not that same as creating your own stylesheet. In RSD, one can not yet create a style and apply that same class across different types of elements without recreating the style in the application). Most of the complexity that you will encounter is how you want your content to change as you go from mobile to desktop views.

As for other software, it really depends on what you might need in your new sites.

The choice between mobile-first or desktop-down is totally up to your target audience.

How they first go to your website is up to the website user. But mobile-first/up or desktop-first/down is the starting point for how the responsive website is created. Is the direction that the styles go through in the media queries. In desktop-down, one creates a style at a large or open breakpoints, and it stays that way until a new breakpoint (media query) is created and a style is applied to an element. The style only applies at the breakpoint it is created and through smaller breakpoints. Mobile first is the opposite. A style at a small screen is persistent through all larger views/breakpoints until changed. If a change is made at a medium view, it only starts at the medium view and carries through larger breakpoints.

RSD 1 gave the options of up or down in pixels or em. RSD V2 Beta gives the option of Foundation or Bootsrap frameworks to start a project with. Both of those are mobile-first only frameworks. RSD V2 beta can open already created RSD 1 projects and still maintain a desktop-down approach and keep the CC's Coffeegrinder framework. That is why is it difficult sometimes to start using these frameworks because most people will find it easier to throw all their content onto a large screen, then make it smaller, mobile first makes you think "smaller" first.

I would read this if "mobile-first" seems daunting.
http://zurb.com/word/mobile-first

Hi Bill,

Thank you for your detailed insight, much appreciated. I have however decided to go with Scott's advice and concentrate purely on RSD at this point of time until that is mastered to a tee.

I know mobile first is the starting point now rather than desktop down. It is certainly something I am going to have to get used to working that way.

Currently available for free: https://mijingo.com/products/screencast … o-flexbox/

– Richard