Mobile first is like gaining weight. Easy mode.

January 13th, 2013 | Adam Johnson

Mobile first this, mobile first that. Yada yada yada. There's all this talk about mobile first and we've heard it all before—over and over and over. What people don't talk about is the direct, technical benefits you'll see when you're actually effing developing. The main benefit in my mind?

Goodbye to horizontal scrollbars.

When you convert a 960px wide site (‘desktop’ if you will) to be responsive, you’re constantly battling horizontal scrollbars. Them buggers are annoying! Oftentimes easy to solve; however, still annoying.

Get fat.

When you build a site starting mobile first, horizontal scrollbars become a thing of the past. No more crawling through your HTML & CSS trying to figure out what element causes that 1px or 2px horizontal scrollbar. When you start small, your widths only increase as your browser/device increases.

Mobile first turns you into a happy fat-cat. Desktop first means you’re hitting the gym and getting your ass kicked.

Seriously, just try it. You won’t go back.


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