Question

I am interested in using this system but I would like to know if anyone has found any good alternatives. In particular I am looking for some layout system that will allow me to build an HTML5 layout that works good in a browser, on an ipad and on a phone.

Does anyone have any suggestions on other layout methods I should consider?

Answer 1

Grids are tricky when building responsive sites that cater for multiple layout sizes/devices because grid systems (certainly 960.gs) usually rely on fixed-width containers.

However, depending on how you approach your responsive build, you can still use a grid system for your desktop view. E.g. I usually approach responsiveness from the same perspective as the 320&up multiple linked stylesheets. This makes it easy to just load a particular grid system (usually 960.gs) only in the desktop view. This way, your mark-up can have the classes required by the grid system, e.g. grid_12, without the fixed widths screwing up the mobile view.

That said, there are some responsive grid systems that are proving popular and are easy to work with, such as the 1140 fluid grid. You could also try the fluid 960 grid

There are also projects that even use the 960.gs grid as a base, while still catering for smaller sizes, such as skeleton

I’d recommend you take a look at 320&up because it is a great resource for responsive builds. The theory of building for mobile first and progressively loading more stuff for larger views is definitely the way to go…