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I know there are a lot of questions on Stack Overflow about the meta viewport tag, but I can't find anyone asking what seems to be the most obvious and useful question:
How can I use meta viewport and CSS media queries to make the average 960px website design look good on the iPad (and desktop), while still retaining a smaller viewport and site design (e.g., 320px) for the iPhone and other mobile phones?
For the iPhone, I think it goes without saying: a smaller, phone-friendly site (e.g., 320px wide) is ideal. But for the iPad's larger screen, a special mobile site isn't really necessary; using the normal 960px site design seems appropriate. A 320px site looks clownish on the iPad, and I don't always want to design a third variation for the iPad's 768px.
Here's the problem: I can't figure out how to use the meta viewport tag and CSS media queries to achieve both 1) a normal site on the iPad, and 2) a mobile site on the iPhone. I realize it's possible with JavaScript hacks (e.g., dynamically changing the meta viewport tag according to the device), but I don't want to use JavaScript; I don't think JS should be required to achieve basic usability on a simple website with static content.
1) If I remove the meta viewport tag altogether, my normal 960px site looks perfect on the iPad, but bad on the iPhone (large empty margin on the right side):
2) On the other hand, if I use <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />, then the site looks great on the iPhone, but bad on the iPad (zoomed to 768px, site spills outside of the viewport):
This seems like it should be the simplest thing in the world, but I haven't been able to solve it. What am I missing?
CSS:
<style type="text/css">
body { margin: 0; }
.mobile { width: 320px; background: #fdd; display: none; }
.desktop { width: 960px; background: #ddf; }
</style>
<style type="text/css" media="screen and (max-device-width: 480px)">
.mobile { display: block; }
.desktop { display: none; }
</style>
Markup:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
</head>
<body>
<div class="mobile">Phone (320px)</div>
<div class="desktop">Desktop and tablet (960px)</div>
</body>
</html>
797
The HTML Viewport meta tag is used for creating responsive website. So that web page can adjust its width according to viewport.
Media queries can be used to check many things, such as: width and height of the viewport. width and height of the device. orientation (is the tablet/phone in landscape or portrait mode?)
Media queries are useful when you want to modify your site or app depending on a device's general type (such as print vs. screen) or specific characteristics and parameters (such as screen resolution or browser viewport width).
Combine a media query with zoom.
@media only screen and (min-device-width:768px) and (max-device-width:1024px) and (orientation:portrait) {
html {zoom:0.8;}
}
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