Whist media queries are incredibly powerful we are now aware of some limitations. Any fixed width design, using only media queries to adapt for different viewports will merely "snap" from one set of CSS media query rules to the next with no linear progression between the two. From our own experience in Chapter 2, Media Queries: Supporting Differing Viewports, where a viewport fell between the fixed-width ranges of our media queries (as may be the case for future unknown devices and their viewports) the design required horizontal scrolling in the browser. Instead, we want to create a design that flexes and looks good on all viewports, not just particular ones specified in a media query. I'll cut to the chase. (See what I did there? It's a film-based saying to match our film-based site… No? I'll get my coat…) We need to switch our fixed, pixel-based layout to a fluid proportional one. This will enable elements to scale relative to the viewport until one media query or another modifies the styling.
Note
The symbiosis of proportional layout and media queries
I've already mentioned Ethan Marcotte's article on Responsive Web Design at A List Apart (http://www.alistapart.com/articles/responsive-web-design/). Whilst the tools he used (fluid layout and images, and media queries) were not new, the application and embodiment of the ideas into a single coherent methodology were. For many working in web design, his article was the genesis of new possibilities. Indeed, new ways to create web pages that offered the best of both worlds; a way to have a fluid flexible design based on a proportional layout, whilst being able to limit how far elements could flex with media queries. Putting them together forms the core of a responsive design, creating something truly greater than the sum of its parts.