What can go wrong when creating a jQuery plugin that responds to proportional media queries? - jquery-plugins

Question

The assumption behind this question is that the designer is using proportional queries in a Responsive Web Design and going from 1-column on a smartphone to 2 and 3-column on the displays where they will comfortably fit.
A content widget jQuery plugin (like a Recent Updates widget) should change it's character in the different layouts. In 1-column layout it might need to be 4 small text links and in 2 or 3-column layouts it can include thumbnails and extra text.
For reference, here's the code as the end-user of the content widget would see it.
HTML:
<section id="sidebar">
<section id="latestupdates"></section>
</section>
JS:
(function($){
$(function(){
$("#latestupdates").widgetco_latestupdates();
});
})(jQuery);
I think the best way to hook into the designers layout changes is this. Ask for the breakpoints as parameters for widgetco_latestupdates during initialization and use the resize events to toggle css classes.
Is this even the right method? What are the pitfalls with doing this?
UPDATE:
Since asking, I have found enquire.js which will handle running the queries. That still leaves the question of this being the right method.

Answer 1

If you are careful with the classes you assign to the content, you can likely control everythinhg with standard CSS.
For example, say your desktop output was something like
<article>
<h1> Update heading </h1>
<img src="..">
<p class="intro"> Intro text ... </p>
<p class="full-text"> Full text here </p>
read more
</article>
Then in your CSS you manage what content to show on which devices with
#media screen and (max-width: 480px){
/* for smartphones */
article img, p.intro{
display:none;
}
}
#media screen and (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 800px){
/* for tablets */
p.full-text{
display:none;
}
}
I think if you can use CSS to manage the different layouts it will be more flexible and easier to update going forward.
Good luck!
EDIT
If you are thinking about ajax to add / remove content based on the visitor's viewport, here are two interesting links:
http://filamentgroup.com/lab/ajax_includes_modular_content/
Project on Github