At 00:06 21-03-00 , Alan Wilson wrote:
>I'm designing a website for a rock band and they plan 
>to get some personal exposure in Europe when the go 
on tour in two month. The reason I'm writing is to find out 
>a recommended size to design the splash page at. 

>I thought about designing 640x480 to accommodate 
>most viewers but the client thinks that's a bit small. 

It is. And if you want to support Microsoft Web TV, you'll need to go even
smaller.

I see you've already received the ~politically correct~ lowest common
denominator ~party line~. Don't take offense, people actually believe it,
and I suppose if you are peddling pimple cream that people don't really
need, and need to be persuaded to want, they may have a point.

Personally, I find most such sites badly-designed, often dysfunctional, and
annoying, and when given a choice don't return, nor stay around.

What is important is that the _critical_ information, including navigation,
tour dates, things like that, can be viewed with even the smallest window
size.

Design for what you and your client find desirable. Give it a reality
check, by viewing with the configurations on sale at your local
electronics-store computer department. A reasonable presumption is that
you've a somewhat gee-gosh-wow audience, while still grounded in
off-the-shelf computer systems.

Then design to degrade without loss of functionality to smaller screen sizes.

And by all means, have fun, at artistic levels, and share that fun with
those who visit your site.

Safe computing,  /Harold
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Harold A. Driscoll                 mailto:Harold(at)Driscoll.Chi.IL.US
#include <std/disclaimer>                 http://Driscoll.Chi.IL.US

HWG: hwg-graphics mailing list archives, maintained by Webmasters @ IWA