So there's a theory of design. It states that we should design the website so that all the pieces work together in both a desktop context and in a mobile context. Use smaller design pieces that are adaptable to small screens and use CSS that will optimize the display for whatever the user chooses to view the website on. This is sort of a "one ring to rule them all" mentality.

I would disagree with this strategy. Not only is this an incredibly difficult task for a designer, but I think this approach overlooks a basic constraint. The ways in which we consume information on a desktop machine and that on a handheld device are completely different.

I believe the act of reading itself is completely different for all. More than that, I find the websites on which I'm most compelled to view content have two versions (a desktop version and a mobile version).

Feel free to disagree with me, but this is primarily the approach we will be taking in this book. And with Drupal as the CMS, you will see this approach becomes easy with the addition of contributed modules that separate content and allow different themes and JavaScript for different domain names.

For every rule there is an exception and there is, indeed, a place where the two-pronged site approach breaks down. Designing a website for tablets requires aspects of mobile design, a clear attention to touch events, and a design that's not quite tailored to the desktop and yet not quite a mobile phone.

We will discuss the ways Drupal can power your tablet strategy and try to cover the gap between the smaller mobile site and the full-version desktop site.