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jayeff · 2006-09-16, 08:44 AM

As we should, we take people seriously who come to the boards looking for ways to enhance their businesses by one or two points. So how can we even entertain the suggestion that we do something to alienate 15% of our potential customers?

That apart, many people using higher resolutions and bigger screens open multiple windows, rather than using the whole screen for just one. Big-screen or not, there is also a maximum line-width with which people are most comfortable. That applies primarily to text, but even on highly graphical sites we still want surfers to focus on enter buttons, specific text, etc, so it cannot make sense to overwhelm those hot-spots.

In short, design for 770-780 pixels wide. It is the usable width of 800x600 screens (with the most common chroming) and a comfortable width at higher resolutions. By all means ensure that your design is at its best at 1024, since that is currently the most common size, but it should not degrade badly, ideally not at all, at lower or higher values.

Anway that is only part of the picture (no pun intended). A lot of visitors have the option, whether you like it or not, to re-scale your text with a simple click of their mouse rollers. Instead of ignoring that, since the results can be horrible if not planned, cater for that possibility and give all your visitors a choice to see your site(s) as they prefer. Sure you will have problems with animated gifs and poor-quality graphics, but otherwise there is nothing to prevent graphics, as well as text, being scalable.

I really don't understand those who use huge screens and ultra-high resolutions for design: this is business, not a competition to see who scores the most geek-cool points. If you must design for only one group of visitors, at least make it the largest group: 19 inches at 1024.

2006-09-16, 08:44 AM	#5
jayeff Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand! Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 95	As we should, we take people seriously who come to the boards looking for ways to enhance their businesses by one or two points. So how can we even entertain the suggestion that we do something to alienate 15% of our potential customers? That apart, many people using higher resolutions and bigger screens open multiple windows, rather than using the whole screen for just one. Big-screen or not, there is also a maximum line-width with which people are most comfortable. That applies primarily to text, but even on highly graphical sites we still want surfers to focus on enter buttons, specific text, etc, so it cannot make sense to overwhelm those hot-spots. In short, design for 770-780 pixels wide. It is the usable width of 800x600 screens (with the most common chroming) and a comfortable width at higher resolutions. By all means ensure that your design is at its best at 1024, since that is currently the most common size, but it should not degrade badly, ideally not at all, at lower or higher values. Anway that is only part of the picture (no pun intended). A lot of visitors have the option, whether you like it or not, to re-scale your text with a simple click of their mouse rollers. Instead of ignoring that, since the results can be horrible if not planned, cater for that possibility and give all your visitors a choice to see your site(s) as they prefer. Sure you will have problems with animated gifs and poor-quality graphics, but otherwise there is nothing to prevent graphics, as well as text, being scalable. I really don't understand those who use huge screens and ultra-high resolutions for design: this is business, not a competition to see who scores the most geek-cool points. If you must design for only one group of visitors, at least make it the largest group: 19 inches at 1024.