Desktop and web development also got to ignore responsive design for a long time, and that revolution added serious complexity to HTML/CSS/JS and browser engines. You could slap a minimum desktop resolution on your product and call it a day.
HTML/CSS were engineered to be device-independent and to separate styling from the underlying semantics, from day one. Properly understood, "responsive design" is a triviality; all good design is responsive design.
>HTML/CSS were engineered to be device-independent and to separate styling from the underlying semantics, from day one.
These were business trends, not mechanical limitations.
>Properly understood, "responsive design" is a triviality; all good design is responsive design.
I have no idea what you mean by this. Responsive design means for a page to respond to different viewport constraints by re-arranging elements and making rules for different breakpoints that you choose to support. None of that is trivial unless this is another "it's not a hard CS problem so it's trivial" argument.
