Notes from #responsiveconf – Stephanie Rieger

The Future of Media Queries

tl:dr; Level 4 MQs are not the right ones we need.

@media (scripting)

Apply a style based on JS availability.
Why not build a site that doesn’t require JS? Not progressive.

More common are JS problems (doesn’t load / cascade / work).

@media (light-level)

low | normal | high

Undefined levels. Doing more harm than good?
Shouldn’t device manufacturers be doing this? Which many are.
What about a manual prompt using this MQ – is that appropriate?

@media (pointer)

Measures presence and accuracy of a pointing device.
But there are multiple input mechanisms per device.

“Ensure everything works with a keyboard, mouse and touchscreen”.

@media (hover)

Again, multiple input mechanisms.

@media (update-frequency)

Modify content once it has rendered.

@media(overflow-block|inline)

What happens when content overflows the horizontal and vertical viewport size?

Are different media queries needed? e.g. Android components.

Take a construct, declare a UI, and let the device decide the most appropriate element to display. Not the current webs approach.