Cannot find file, grid.css for website making project

Matthew Campbell -

grids are very static and not always great for responsive design

Except, that directly contracts the very definition of responsive web design as defined by the guy who coined the term.

Fluid grids, flexible images, and media queries are the three technical ingredients for responsive web design

source: Responsive Web Design by ETHAN MARCOTTE

James Barnett - I don't disagree that fluid grids are responsive because they do respond. I'm not alone in feeling that grids are restrictive, static may not be the best word. There's a piece in the latest .net mag.

I find that I'm still doing as much work to get something lined up in a grid box then if I'd just written out a width and height and for that row, made sure it all added up to 100%. If you've got a grid that takes up 23% of the page and you want something that's 20%, you then need to add margins and work out the width of the containing grid. It's quicker, less code and easier to just write 20%, margin 0 1.5%...done!

Plus, once you're down to mobile devices then you're applying a different set of classes for mobile or resetting the grid to be 100% so it makes the grid complete irrelevant to responsive design when you're getting rid of it when you're below a certain resolution.

They're great for starting out and getting layout nice when you're inexperienced but I find they're more hassle then they worth and require so much more coding. Let's not mention you have to add 1 or 2 additional classes to every element when using grids. This just goes against everything we're trying to do as developers, keeping things lightweight and writing as little as possible and be as least specific as possible with our CSS.

I agree with everything you've said here, I just find it odd that people conflate the term progressive enhancement and responsive web design. Personally I'm not a fan of grids in most cases even i they are the fluid variety and thus I'm not a fan of RWD as strickly defined.

Maybe the industry has decided the responsive design as a branding term covers more than what was originally intended by it's author. See also: the branding of HTML5

I think it is possibly more a marketing term now then a definition, although that is still the case. Responsive design is simple for people to understand and to explain further James Barnett. It's easy to say to someone who has no idea at the best of times, that our designs respond to the device they're viewed on, ie, responsive design.

Matthew Campbell -

our designs respond to the device they're viewed on

I think the term you are looking for is adaptive design.

source: http://viljamis.com/blog/2012/adaptive-vs-responsive-whats-the-difference.php

Also it may just be me but I think it sounds better in English to say our design adapts to the device it's viewed on.