Advanced Responsive: A Complete Material Design 3-Based Responsive System for Flutter

Source: Dev.to

Building responsive layouts in Flutter

Responsive layouts in Flutter often start simple… and quickly become messy.
You begin with a few MediaQuery checks, then add breakpoint logic, then multiply values by scale factors. Before long, your widgets are tangled in conditional rendering and hard‑coded dimensions.

advanced_responsive is designed to solve that by providing a structured, Material Design 3‑aligned responsive system, not just scaling utilities or breakpoint checks.

The problem

Most Flutter developers encounter these issues:

// Different developers, different values
if (width  width;
// ... repeated in every widget

• Spacing, typography, and layout decisions are scattered across the codebase with no central source of truth.

Existing solutions

Real‑world responsive design needs all of them working together.

advanced_responsive – three pillars

The package uses the official MD3 breakpoints:

90 % of apps need the same UI that adapts automatically.
10 % need completely different layouts per device.

advanced_responsive supports both.

Adaptive UI (same UI, different spacing/typography)

ResponsiveBuilder(
  builder: (context, info) => Container(
    padding: EdgeInsets.all(info.spacing(ResponsiveSpacing.md)),
    child: Text(
      'Welcome',
      style: TextStyle(fontSize: info.responsiveFontSize(24)),
    ),
  ),
);

Custom UI (different layouts per device)

ResponsiveLayout(
  mobile: MobileView(),
  tablet: TabletView(),
  desktop: DesktopView(),
);

Conditional rendering example

ResponsiveBuilder(
  builder: (context, info) {
    return Column(
      children: [
        Text(
          info.isDesktop ? 'Desktop Mode' : 'Mobile Mode',
          style: TextStyle(fontSize: info.responsiveFontSize(18)),
        ),
        if (info.isDesktop)
          ThreeColumnLayout()
        else if (info.isTablet)
          TwoColumnLayout()
        else
          SingleColumnLayout(),
      ],
    );
  },
);

Completely different layouts per device

ResponsiveLayout(
  mobile: MobileHomePage(),   // Bottom nav, single column
  tablet: TabletHomePage(),   // Side drawer, 2 columns
  desktop: DesktopHomePage(), // Top nav, 3 columns, sidebar
);

Helpers available directly on BuildContext

No wrappers. No boilerplate.

Semantic spacing values

Before

// Before
Container(
  padding: EdgeInsets.all(
    MediaQuery.of(context).size.width  ProductCard(),
    );
  }
}

With advanced_responsive

class ProductGrid extends StatelessWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return ResponsiveBuilder(
      builder: (context, info) {
        final columns = info.responsiveValue(
          mobile: 2,
          tablet: 3,
          desktop: 4,
        );

        return GridView.builder(
          gridDelegate: SliverGridDelegateWithFixedCrossAxisCount(
            crossAxisCount: columns,
            mainAxisSpacing: info.spacing(ResponsiveSpacing.sm),
            crossAxisSpacing: info.spacing(ResponsiveSpacing.sm),
          ),
          itemBuilder: (context, index) => ProductCard(),
        );
      },
    );
  }
}

Improvements

• ✅ Cleaner, more readable
• ✅ Semantic spacing values
• ✅ Easy to modify centrally
• ✅ Type‑safe device detection

Service example (caching)

class ResponsiveService {
  static final ResponsiveService _instance = ResponsiveService._internal();

  DeviceType? _cachedDeviceType;
  double? _cachedWidth;

  DeviceType getDeviceType(double width) {
    if (_cachedWidth == width) return _cachedDeviceType!;
    // … calculate and cache
  }
}

Benefits

• Minimal overhead
• No unnecessary recalculations
• Efficient memory usage

See it in action

🌐 Try the Live Demo

1. Open the link in your browser.
2. Press F12 to open DevTools and inspect the responsive helpers in action.

📱 Toggle Device Toolbar

Resize the viewport

Observe

• Layout changes (columns, navigation)
• Spacing adaptation
• Typography scaling
• Grid column changes

Packages & Features

Installation

dependencies:
  advanced_responsive: ^1.0.3

import 'package:advanced_responsive/advanced_responsive.dart';

Minimal Example

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      home: ResponsiveBuilder(
        builder: (context, info) => Scaffold(
          body: Padding(
            padding: context.safePadding,
            child: Text(
              'Hello Responsive World!',
              style: TextStyle(
                fontSize: context.responsiveFontSize(24),
              ),
            ),
          ),
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

Do’s & Don’ts

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I really need a responsive package?
A: No! That’s a common misconception. 90 % of apps only need the same UI with adaptive spacing, typography, and layout adjustments. The package handles this automatically.

Q: Can I migrate gradually?
A: Absolutely! You can migrate one screen at a time. The context extensions make it easy to replace existing MediaQuery calls incrementally.

Q: Is it cross‑platform?
A: Yes! The package is platform‑agnostic and works seamlessly across Mobile, Web, and Desktop.

Q: What’s the impact on app size?
A: Minimal – the package adds roughly ~50 KB to your app.

Q: Is it production‑ready?
A: Yes! It’s well‑tested, used in production apps, and actively maintained.

Feature Wishlist

• Animated transitions between breakpoints
• Debug overlay
• Platform‑specific values
• Responsive theme system
• Custom breakpoint support
• Performance improvements
• CLI migration tool
• Adaptive widgets library
• Testing utilities

Why Choose advanced_responsive?

• ✅ Reduces boilerplate
• ✅ Enforces design consistency
• ✅ Scales well as your project grows
• ✅ Follows industry standards (Material Design 3)
• ✅ Provides both adaptive and custom layout options

📦 pub.dev 🐙 GitHub 🌐 Live Demo

Found a bug? Have a feature request?

• 🗳️ Vote on features: GitHub Discussions
• 🤝 Contribute: Contributing Guide
• 🐛 Open an issue
• 🔧 Submit a PR: Fork the repo and contribute!
• ⭐ Star on GitHub if you find it useful

About the Author

Sayed Moataz – Flutter developer passionate about building beautiful, responsive cross‑platform applications. This package was born from real‑world needs — solving responsive design challenges in multiple production projects.

• 💼 LinkedIn:
• 🐙 GitHub:
• 📧 Email:

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Happy coding! 🚀

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