Device independence: responsive design strategies for digital publications

This report discusses and provides strategies for implementing responsive web design solutions for digital publications in HTML-based formats, with the aid of open web standards, media queries, device-specific CSS, and relative measurements. As technological innovations create more diverse reading experiences, presenting content in a way that is dynamic and suitable to each device and user’s preference becomes a larger priority in ensuring reader satisfaction and engagement. This report outlines methods for creating digital publications that adapt to the reading environment of a user by embracing device independence principles and open web standards, thereby extending the shelf life of a publication’s design and source files, and maximizing publisher investment in digital conversions. The report provides practical methods for implementing responsive design in the form of elastic layouts, built on the relative measurement of the em, which allows the optimization of layouts for display on handheld devices, tablets, and personal computers.