Screen size and resolution?

P

PeterMcC

Jean-Marc Rousset said:
Hi all,

We are in the process of developing a web site and are not sure about
what screen size & resolution to use. Any suggestions?
Is it safe to assume that *most* people have 15" screens in 800 x 600
? Or 1024 x 768 ?
Also, how do you handle the browser's toolbars at the top, knowing it
may take some screen space ?
Can you detect the user's resolution?

Have a look at:
http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?AnySizeDesign
 
J

Jean-Marc Rousset

Hi all,

We are in the process of developing a web site and are not sure about what
screen size & resolution to use. Any suggestions?
Is it safe to assume that *most* people have 15" screens in 800 x 600 ? Or
1024 x 768 ?
Also, how do you handle the browser's toolbars at the top, knowing it may
take some screen space ?
Can you detect the user's resolution?

Thanks for all suggestions,

Jean-Marc
 
S

Steve Pugh

Jean-Marc Rousset said:
We are in the process of developing a web site and are not sure about what
screen size & resolution to use. Any suggestions?

Forget all about them.
Is it safe to assume that *most* people have 15" screens in 800 x 600 ? Or
1024 x 768 ?
No.

Also, how do you handle the browser's toolbars at the top, knowing it may
take some screen space ?

Don't worry about it.
Can you detect the user's resolution?

Not reliably. Anyway the resolution is irrelevant - not everyone surfs
with their browser window maximised.

See http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?AnySizeDesign

Steve
 
W

William Tasso

Jean-Marc Rousset said:
Hi all,
Greetings

We are in the process of developing a web site and are not sure about
what screen size & resolution to use. Any suggestions?

Yes, use mine.
Is it safe to assume that *most* people have 15" screens in 800 x 600
? Or 1024 x 768 ?

/looks in garden shed

yep: I've got one of each. Which one do I need to dust off to use your
site?
Also, how do you handle the browser's toolbars at the top, knowing it
may take some screen space ?

it will - you have no idea how much
Can you detect the user's resolution?

in some circumstances, but that knowledge is of little, if any, value:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~sbpoley/webmatters/flexdesign.html
 
S

Sid Ismail

On Tue, 2 Dec 2003 17:21:01 +0100, "Jean-Marc Rousset"

: We are in the process of developing a web site and are not sure about what
: screen size & resolution to use. Any suggestions?
: Is it safe to assume that *most* people have 15" screens in 800 x 600 ? Or
: 1024 x 768 ?
: Also, how do you handle the browser's toolbars at the top, knowing it may
: take some screen space ?
: Can you detect the user's resolution?


You don't. Cater for all.

Sid
 
B

Barry Pearson

Jean-Marc Rousset said:
Hi all,

We are in the process of developing a web site and are not sure about
what screen size & resolution to use. Any suggestions?
Is it safe to assume that *most* people have 15" screens in 800 x 600
? Or 1024 x 768 ?
Also, how do you handle the browser's toolbars at the top, knowing it
may take some screen space ?
Can you detect the user's resolution?

A vital question - do you have any pixel-oriented content? For example,
photographs, important graphics?

If you don't, then listen to the people who suggest that you design without
too much concern for the user's viewport size. Adapt to the latter.

If you do, you have my sympathy. Not only do you have a problem for which
current standards & tool support are inadequate. But you will also get little
help from people who don't have that problem, and choose to ignore it.

If you have to develop pixel-oriented material, such as photographs and
important graphics, I suggest you do so on the assumption that people who want
to see that content can handle an image of about 700 x 500. They can at least
scroll, and people with much larger screens will at least get a plausible
image.
 
R

Richard

Jean-Marc! said:
We are in the process of developing a web site and are not sure about
what screen size & resolution to use. Any suggestions?
Is it safe to assume that *most* people have 15" screens in 800 x 600 ?
Or 1024 x 768 ?
Also, how do you handle the browser's toolbars at the top, knowing it may
take some screen space ?
Can you detect the user's resolution?
Thanks for all suggestions,
Jean-Marc

If you can, design the site to float with the window size of the browser
rather than resolution.
Chances are the visitor will have 1024x768 and very few with anything lower.
Of course you can detect the resolution, but who cares?
If you're that worried, use something 900x700 as a size.
At least those that refuse to upgrade won't have to do much scrolling.
 
S

Steve R.

Richard wrote in message ...
Chances are the visitor will have 1024x768 and very few with anything lower.

Hang on there - Stats show that around 45 percent of ALL users are using 800 x 600,
so you can't afford to ignore those people.
 
E

Eric Bohlman

Chances are the visitor will have 1024x768 and very few with anything
lower. Of course you can detect the resolution, but who cares?

Little fact of life: the larger the dimensions of a user's screen, the
smaller the proportion of the user's screen that's likely to be occupied by
his browser window.
 
R

rf

Richard said:
If you can, design the site to float with the window size of the browser
rather than resolution.

For once, some good advice.
Chances are the visitor will have 1024x768 and very few with anything
lower.

Last time I looked at the stats about 50% used 800x600.
Of course you can detect the resolution, but who cares?
True.

If you're that worried, use something 900x700 as a size.

What a stupid size. You will get a 100 pixel blank space on those who you
assume use 1024xwhatever and you will gaurantee a scroll bar for 800x600. If
the customer *insists* on a fixed size it should be 780 or whatever.
At least those that refuse to upgrade won't have to do much scrolling.

Do you have the money and or the inclination to upgrade to my 3200x1200
desktop? No? Well, dont assume such things for others. It is the height of
arrogance to suggest that a viewers system is inadequate to display a web
page.

Cheers
Richard.
 
J

Jean-Marc Rousset

Lots of different opinions I see :)
But still no conclusive answer about whether it's 800x600 or 1024x768 :(
Does anybody know of a reliable source / stats site with this information?
Thanks,

Jean-Marc
 
C

Chris Morris

Jean-Marc Rousset said:
Lots of different opinions I see :)
But still no conclusive answer about whether it's 800x600 or 1024x768 :(
Does anybody know of a reliable source / stats site with this information?

No. There is no *reliable* source for this information. If you want
an unreliable source, 20% of each, 20% of something else, and the
other 40% flexible to justify your decision.

Plus, as has already been stated, the resolution and the browser
window size are independent. If you want to code for me, you should
code to...919x696 today.
 
K

kchayka

Chris said:
Plus, as has already been stated, the resolution and the browser
window size are independent. If you want to code for me, you should
code to...919x696 today.

No, he should code for me. That would be 700x700, Wednesday ~9:05 GMT
-6, though the viewport size is somewhat smaller than that. Better
check back in another hour, too, because it's likely to be different.

:)
 
S

Steve R.

Jean-Marc Rousset wrote in message ...
But still no conclusive answer about whether it's 800x600 or 1024x768

It's neither. Didn't you bother to read the previous replies which pointed you to the
website URL at the bottom of this message?

The idea is that you design so that it floats to all reasonable sizes, ie no
horizontal scroll bar in 800x600 window size, so that means no images wider than say
750 pixels or series of images adding up to that figure, for example button gifs in
line at the top of a page.

If you use tables don't use fixed widths measured in pixels, use percentages intead
so the page expands and shrinks to fit the browser window.

Have a look at:
http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?AnySizeDesign
 
S

Steve R.

R

Richard

Little fact of life: the larger the dimensions of a user's screen, the
smaller the proportion of the user's screen that's likely to be occupied
by his browser window.

huh?

So if you have 200" screen, the browser will only be shown in 100" of it
perhaps?
I don't think so. The browser window can be maxed to fit the entire screen,
and beyond.
Screen size is irrelevant.
 
R

Richard

rf! wrote:

For once, some good advice.

Last time I looked at the stats about 50% used 800x600.
What a stupid size. You will get a 100 pixel blank space on those who you
assume use 1024xwhatever and you will gaurantee a scroll bar for 800x600.
If the customer *insists* on a fixed size it should be 780 or whatever.
Do you have the money and or the inclination to upgrade to my 3200x1200
desktop? No? Well, dont assume such things for others. It is the height
of arrogance to suggest that a viewers system is inadequate to display a
web page.

Who would want a resolution that size anyway? Going from 800x600 to
1024x768, decreases what was the size of say a dialog box, to the point
where you have to increase the font size to read it.
So with 3200x1200, you'd have to 30 point fonts to do the work of 10 points.
As 10 points would need a magnifying glass.
Besides, that would be technically 3200x2400 not 3200x1200.
 
K

kchayka

Steve said:
Put some marks on the edge of
you monitor to show 800x600 etc, then you can regulary check that it *will* work in
800x600 even though you are designing on a bigger monitor.

http://www.anybrowser.com/ScreenSizeTest.html

Though I agree with the general anybrowser philosophy, I have a personal
problem with a site that claims to advocate size independence, but is
fixed-width itself.

A better idea is using bookmarklets that change your window size.
There's lots of info on bookmarklets out there if you don't know what
they are. Here's one such page:
<URL:http://www.4umi.com/web/bookmarklet/>

BTW, changing window size alone does not guarantee a page *will* work at
that size or not, only that it *may* display acceptably at the given
screen resolution and text size in that window size. There are many
factors that may cause it to display differently at that window size,
but if it's designed well, it will still be acceptable.
 
I

Isofarro

Richard said:
Who would want a resolution that size anyway?

More screenspace for applications. The whole point of a multi-tasking
operating system is to allow a user to run more than one application. More
screenspace means more applications are viewable on screen at the same
time.
Going from 800x600 to
1024x768, decreases what was the size of say a dialog box, to the point
where you have to increase the font size to read it.

Now you are making false assumptions on the monitor size and number of
screens. Sheesh.
 

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