[theme-reviewers] Theme Tag: Responsive

[Daniel Fenn]

+1 for the tag, that would be more useful than fighting over theme names :)




On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 10:41 AM, Bruce Wampler <weavertheme at gmail.com> wrote:
> I think this may have been discussed, but it has been a while, I believe.
>
> There's been some discussion on this group about the term responsive. Rather
> than spend effort on the existing theme named "Responsive", I think there is
> something more useful for all of us:
>
> The term "responsive" really needs to be added to the set of official theme
> tags.
>
> see: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/tag-filter/
>
> By now, the meaning and functionality of the term "responsive" is pretty
> clear. I even think it is pretty easy for reviewers to objectively determine
> if a theme is really "responsive" - one doesn't even need a real mobile
> device to test if a theme is reasonably responsive - just shrink the desktop
> browser. Perhaps there should be some standards, but I don't think they need
> to be complicated. Perhaps as simple as:
>
> ( A simple starting point for discussion.)
>
> A theme is responsive if it does these things:
>
> 1. REQUIRED: Scales content and images to fit the current screen size. This
> means scaling, and not hiding overflow.
> 2. REQUIRED: The theme will provide special handling for sidebars as the
> screen gets small enough. (What is the cutoff? Let the theme designer decide
> - but it would not be reasonable, for example, to still see sidebars
> squished on a 400px screen. And this doesn't necessarily mean stacking, but
> stacking would be a good approach. Hiding the sidebars  completely is
> another reasonable alternative some designers like.
> 3. RECOMMENDED: The theme will have a menu that works well on a phone sized
> device. (Now that it has been fixed for IE8, Twenty Eleven is a nice
> example.)
>
> And I think that is about all the specifications needed to qualify for a
> "responsive" tag. But, of course, that needs to be added to the theme tags
> list first.
>
> I also believe that once it is added, it will become increasingly difficult
> to have a successful theme that is not responsive.
>
>
> Bruce Wampler
>
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