The Difference Between Responsive and Adaptive DesignResponsive sites and adaptive sites are the same in that they both change appearance based on the browser environment they are being viewed on (the most common thing: the browser's width).
Responsive websites respond to the size of the browser at any given point.
Adaptive websites adapt to the width of the browser at a specific points.
Собственно в этом и разница. Если совсем коротко и по-русски:
резина VS фикс (с некоторыми контрольными точками).
UPD: наилучшим подходом я лично считаю комбинацию обоих (например на Тостере именно responsive + adaptive).
