Re: Determining Screen Resolution

Actually, you're not disagreeing with me...we are in complete
agreement about the fact that wide lines of text are not a Good
Thing at all.

My point was that, unlike a newspaper, the Web places a good deal
of the control over the display in the hands of the user.  You
can't resize a newspaper to make the lines of text shorter, but
the Web is not print.  It's more involved and dynamic....we -can-
change the way we see content, even to the point of overriding the
designer's style sheet with our own clientside.

Too far in any direction is over-indulgence, IMHO.   An 18" line
of text is probably ridiculous...except perhaps to a paraplegic
who can't scroll as easily as I do.  I'm not championing the
abandonment of all common sense here...just pointing out that the
Web is not subject to -all- the same rules as print or television
or smoke signals.  The biggest difference to me is the fact that
much more control lies with the viewers than with those other
media.

D


----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Bradley" <tbradley(at)2-penny.com>

Helloooooo there,

I would like to respectfully disagree. I see your points here and
they are
good ones but, I also see where limiting the size in Pixels a good
idea as
well. Layout for purposes of prettiness is not all we deal with
here. Notice
your newspaper, divided up into 3-4 columns. Why? Because it is
easier on
the reader to avoid turning the head. I personally use a 19"
flatscreen set
to 1600x1200. I know I am not alone. Do I really want to read a
column 18"
wide? No but usually it works out so I don't have to. Most pages
are not all
text and set that wide. If I have a page of text, there are other
tricks to
keep it from being that wide but, expand the mail reader you are
using right
now. How wide does it really go? Most online newspapers do not
code for a %
column width. They code for a specific column width. An adjustment
to this
coding ability would actually allow more inclusion, not less. (As
an aside,
it would solve the repeating background problem.)

If we are so worried about inclusion for say, those with difficult
eyesight,
let's include a setting in the browser so I can sniff for whatever
disability I feel I an assist with this particular site and point
to the
appropriate page. I have friends that are frustrated by their
eyesight
problems, gimme a way I can make my sites better for them to read
but, I
must still make a vary visually appealing site for the other 95+%
people out
there because that is what my customer wants.

If I set a text document to read well on a 480 px wide screen,
chances are
it will be difficult to read on a 1600 px wide screen. If I can
set a table
so it will read no wider than 1000 px, I do not have to write a
different
page and sniff out the larger screen displays for a "degraded"
page, I can
code it all at one time and be done with it. Save coding, download
time,
coding time and server disk space.

Thom Bradley

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org
[mailto:owner-hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org]On Behalf Of Darrell King
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2001 7:48 AM
To: hwg-techniques(at)hwg.org
Subject: Re: Determining Screen Resolution


POINT:

>>>>Don't you realize they could have a very good reason for
maximizing their browsing window even at large resolutions?<<<<

RESPONSE:

Excellent point...:).  The only two counter-responses I can think
of are a) "but we want it to look the same at all resolutions",
and b) "people don't know how to resize their browser"...

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