Sean fake.DeleteThis@fake.com.au wrote:
>
> My questions are does anyone have any of these new widescreen monitors
> and opinions on designing web pages so they are displayed normally
> like google for various screen resolution and monitor sizes? as
> widescreens will become more popular eventually as prices come down.
>
by Jove you've got it
not just larger screens...the other trend is for more use of smaller
mobile devices and some people are now even using text to speech to tackle
sites on PDAs etc whilst on the train or whatever
the first thing to bear in mind is that the simple answer for the site
visitor is to alter the browser window to a convenient size...not that
many people with a lot of screen estate will be working with the window
maximised (actually I rarely maximise it at 800x600)
the second thing is to learn to understand the web page conceptually as
readil;y as visually...this may take a while if you are from a graphics
background, but it makes all the difference...instead of seeing the site
you are constructing first as an overall visual impression you need to
first build up a conceptual understanding from the ground up...not only
does this give you the freedom to design flexibly, it also allows you to
consider search engines and good accessibility practise as part of the
basics of the design (both are a real PITA if you deal with them as "add
ons" and easy if they are part of the concept from the start)
look at the design in terms of "page elements"...bits that can work semi-
independently from each other...for instance a navigation menu is a page
element...a logo can be a page element...work out how they need to relate
to each other conceptually first...frex the logo should be seen pretty
much first, it doesn't need to be visually related to anything but the
company/organisation name, if it's linked it should be linked to a page
with information about the company/organisation, it should have high
initial impact and recognisability but shouldn't constantly draw attention
afterwards...or a summary of contents needs to be seen early so that
visitors can quickly know the likely contents of the page, it only needs
to be read once, it should be easy and natural to find the main navigation
after reading it for those who are looking for another page, it needs to
be keyword rich to make it clear to search engines what the page is
about etc
only when you KNOW how the page elements need to work do you start even
thinking about marking up the page...just take the content and mark it up
as decent html...don't try to think ahead to presentation too much. just
make sure it works conceptually...put the bits you need search engines to
see at the top...place "skip" links so that screen readers can jump the
bits they may not want to go through
now you know what you've got to work with you can look at visual lay
out...I do this by using loads of post-it notes all over the
floor...shifting them around in various patterns until I get some idea of
how the elements might move around for larger or smaller displays
now you can start on the stylesheet...elements tend to "stack" best if you
make copious use of float and clear...get the shapes right before you
start looking at sizes in detail...the two basic ways of making the layout
"liquid" are "stacking", where elements "fold" below each other when
there's not enough space...and "squeezing" where an element or some
"whitespace" is compressed when there isn't enough space...look also at
your fixed point(s)...normally a design works from a fixed to[ left
corner...but you can make the design "flex" around a central point...or
anywhere else
HTH
--
eric
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.ericjarvis.co.uk" target="_blank">www.ericjarvis.co.uk</a>
"live fast, die only if strictly necessary"<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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