Beyond Media Queries: An Anatomy of an Adaptive Web Design (at Smashing Conference) from Brad Frost. Media queries may be responsive design’s secret sauce, but we know there’s a whole lot more that goes into crafting amazing adaptive experiences. By dissecting an example of a mobile-first responsive design, we’ll uncover the principles of adaptive design and highlight some considerations for creating contextually-aware Web experiences. We’ll go over emerging mobile Web best practices and responsive patterns that can assist in our journey toward a future-friendly Web.