Got Web Ideas? Fishing for the Answers?
Think Outside The Code First!
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Facts, Thoughts, and Opinions About Web Development and Business Strategy
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PCS have come a long way in recent years and now there is so much variation between them that what a user is actually going to see
can be as wide open as ever. Computers, like my Dell, now offer resolutions as large as 1680 x 1050 and they are optimized
for viewing at that large of a resolution. If I lower my resolution, I get warnings that my computer is optimized for 1680 x 1050
and that is easy to tell as Websites look blurry when going much lower than that.
Now, more than ever, how a Website will fit a users screen will vary widely. More and more people also are setting
their screen resolutions higher. Here are a couple of links to sho you resolution stats.
So what is an optimal size to design at?
I, myself, had to look in to this as I concentrate on back-end features and usually use a design provided to me.
That is why Designers design, Developers develop, and User use.
I called a colleague of mine, Barb Taden from Webfoot Designs, to pick her brain
and also see how a couple of my private sites looked on her Website. I was glad I did. Barb has designed hundreds if not
thousands of Websites in her career.
To my surprise, Barb has been designing Websites at 1024 x 768 and using a standard 900 pixel wide site for her clients.
This was far lower than my resolution was set on and that I have been developing my own sites with. Sure enough I had
some changes to make as her assessment that 1024 x 768 was the proper size to design for was confirmed my many other
articles that I read.
That being said, in the past couple of weeks I have heard from clients wondering why their Website looks so small on
their screen. Clients tend to want their Website to look good on the PC they use and by their standards. They are not
aware of the various resolution sizes offered these days and large areas of white space seem to drive some of them crazy.
That is one reason to play the percentages and set your Websites to be a percentage of the screen. That way no
matter what resolution a user has their PC set on, it will always span the same width of the screen.
But then you get the reverse where the content is too spread out. I also took one of those calls this week from a client
with a new PC.
As a standard, 1024 x 768 seems to be the best size to develop for in this day and age. Making the determination
to use a fixed width Website or play the percentages is one of those paradigms that may alter between clients.
It definately needs to be discussed up front and explained to clients. They may disagree with you. That is OK.
Just remind them that they should not be surprised if it has to change in the future.
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