Re: [guadec-list] Working on the official web theme & layout

[Calum Benson <Calum Benson Sun COM>]

On 25 Feb 2006, at 11:28, John Hwang wrote:

> Calum,
>
> What dimensions is your browse window?  I did target 1024x768,  
> given that most peopel have at least 1024x768 monitors... It's been  
> a while since manufacturers stopped shipping 800x600 as default...  
> It's trivial to modify the site to fit in a 800x600.

/me measures

The content part of my browser window is usually about 800 wide by  
700 high, give or take.

> Personally, I'm not sure supporting 800x600 is a good idea, give  
> that the site has to accomodate different preferences of larger  
> font sizes

I'd say that's precisely /why/ you should aim for something that  
works in smaller windows.... if a user needs to use large fonts, they  
have more of a chance of still being able to see the whole page if it  
was designed "smaller" in the first place. (Assuming they have a  
larger than 800x600 screen, which as you say, most people now do.)   
Incidentally, that's also why the HIG still suggests that developers  
design dialogs that will fit into 800x600 when viewed with the  
default fonts.

> and especially different locales which may have longer/larger  
> phrases than English.

All the more reason to have a design that wraps gracefully wherever  
possible IMHO, rather than resorting to horizontal scrolling, which  
is always one of the more unpleasant things you can force a user to  
do (as it's physically more difficult than vertical scrolling).

Cheeri,
Calum.

--
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer       Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson sun com            Java Desktop System Team
http://blogs.sun.com/calum             +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems