Re[2]: Resolutions 800 x 600 vs. 1024 x 768

by Thomas Rumley <trumley(at)softhome.net>

 Date:  Wed, 14 Jan 2004 08:45:54 -0500
 To:  hwg-basics(at)hwg.org
 References:  upsdell teamon upsdell2
  todo: View Thread, Original
Okay, go ahead and yell :0)

But those who browse without JavaScript on are the minority. To cover these 
non - JavaScript enabled browsers, you can simply place a NOSCRIPT tag 
telling the user that JavaScript is used extensively throughout the site 
and that they should enable JavaScript  to get the full impact of your web 
pages. That is one out of ten. And these one out of ten will still see you 
page's contents. Plan for this by letting the default layout mirror the 800 
x 600 design. Place the noscript tag with a css class value so that it can 
be positioned on the screen (with css) in an area that won't interfere with 
your page's content.

As far as not designing for a resolution setting, have you ever loaded a 
site that is designed for a 800 x 600 screen into a 1024 setting. At best 
you get * a lot * of white space around your content. At worst you get type 
that is completely unreadable - especially if you're using a third party 
service such as a stock ticker.

Planning a layout that takes in your user's screen resolution is no 
different than creating different versions of your site to take into 
account different  browsers (ie vs. netscape etc...). Personally I do as 
much as possible using cgi but since this is a basics forum, and many 
people may not have access to their server's cgi bin, I suggest JavaScript 
- which is a viable alternative. People do have a bias against JavaScript 
and cookies because they think that they're a security risk (they're not in 
my opinion) , but then they go ahead and browse with IE which has so many 
leaks in it that I get updates about once a week.

In short, use JavaScript. It let's your viewer interact with your site. Use 
css. It allows you to separate your site's content from it's layout 
-  which is what W3C suggests. Plan carefully with your visitors' needs in 
mind and they will return to you time after time. And also keep in mind 
that my advice is worth exactly what you're paying for it. :0)  Your 
results may vary.

Tom Rumley

At 06:38 PM 1/13/2004 +0000, you wrote:
> > This is about the worst advice I could imagine!!!
>
> > 1.  It does nothing if JavaScript is disabled (about 10% of users).
>
>etc etc
>
>Well done Charles - I won't hold back and be polite in future now I
>know I'm not the only one who cares about good design mechanics as
>well as aesthetics.
>
>Marten Gallagher
>
>--
>Annery Kiln Web Design
>Delivering Information Effectively
>www.annerykiln.co.uk
>Web Design and Site Management
>Web Hosting and Print Design

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