jResize speeds up RWD testing

Developer Todd Motto has released jQuery plug-in jResize, designed to assist the workflow of developers on responsive web design projects. Motto told .net that the plug-in was inspired by Motto not finding a responsive testing tool he was happy with: "I wanted to create something native, something that was actually part of the website itself that we could switch on and off quickly. jResize was created to take away all the annoying browser resizing we have to do, or loading up external iFrames for testing."

As per the demo on Motto's site, jResize works by only requiring a click to change the viewport size. Motto notes that behind-the-scenes, he's tried to make the plug-in more intelligent than the average solution: "It doesn't emulate your website content in a frame or manipulate any of your content or existing styles—it wraps your entire content in a dynamic div, and inserts navigation above it, for you to click to resize. There's also a simple reset, to revert to the 'normal' view." Motto added that his plug-in is also easy to customise. You can define within an array whichever widths you'd like to test with, and the plug-in adds another menu item without you having to do anything further. For more 'codephobic' designers, the plug-in is also easy to implement, called via a couple of <script> elements in the head of a web page.

Motto said he hopes to iterate on the plug-in, improving it over the coming months: "I see it evolving to be even smarter—anything to make a developer's workflow easier. Responsive web design is booming, and we need all the help we can get. No more bookmarking testing websites—it's all on your web page now!"