To start, regardless of whether the experiment pays off long-term, that does not negate the fact that it does require extra design and development time. There is much more code to handle, regardless of whether you use a framework or build it bespoke. Additionally, whether you design for mobile first, or last, there is more design time required. Period.
Second, both the author and OP have lumped 100% of all websites together, and generalized the argument. Sure, responsive may be worthwhile in some cases (as the post misses), but there are many cases where it isn't worthwhile.
My argument for using responsive is that yes, it's worthwhile, if and when the return is there. As a freelancer, this means I must be getting paid for the extra work. As a company owner, this means that we must see value from the resource spend, which could be in the form of better UX, more eyeballs, or more profits.
Indeed. I consider myself fairly well informed compared to most of my peers, but the sheer choice of technologies for building modern web apps (responsiveness, other front-end UX considerations) is daunting. I'm trying to build up a list of modern web design/development links for myself, but I'm already lost. The parent comment about "modernizr" made me sigh with frustration: yet another tool/tech I don't know about or have time to learn.
I don't meant to be rude but if you are not familiar with Modernizr and you work with markup; you are probably nowhere near as well informed as you think you are.
I'm confused. Is this argument for responsive versus standalone desktop or mobile, or responsive versus two sites, one for each.
Because I'd like to say that managing two projects, be it two code bases that both have to be created and configured, takes just as long if not longer, than simply building the edge cases needed for an intuitive responsive site.
But there's points for both methods in my books. I just think not accounting for mobile either way is ridiculous (unless a client is unwilling to pay for it).
I'm saying that in many cases, you don't have two projects, you have just one, which is that of the website built for desktop/laptop screens. Could be a cheap client, or a short-term project that doesn't require a mobile site, etc.
No one is saying that it takes extra time and money. Everything that is done in your life takes time and energy. But if you can do x amount of work and get y amount of gain, where x < y, I don't see the fact that x exists as a negative.
To your second point, please see my conclusion. I agree with you.
To start, regardless of whether the experiment pays off long-term, that does not negate the fact that it does require extra design and development time. There is much more code to handle, regardless of whether you use a framework or build it bespoke. Additionally, whether you design for mobile first, or last, there is more design time required. Period.
Second, both the author and OP have lumped 100% of all websites together, and generalized the argument. Sure, responsive may be worthwhile in some cases (as the post misses), but there are many cases where it isn't worthwhile.
My argument for using responsive is that yes, it's worthwhile, if and when the return is there. As a freelancer, this means I must be getting paid for the extra work. As a company owner, this means that we must see value from the resource spend, which could be in the form of better UX, more eyeballs, or more profits.