Tech: Web Page Size Help Please

Subject: Tech: Web Page Size Help Please
From: wilbyhillbilly
Date: 15 Oct 11 - 09:24 AM

I am trying to build a website for a local charity but I am not sure which size page width to go with.

My programme has options but I need to know what the actual finished width should be to fit most screens.

The options are 800x600 pixels
                1024x768
                1280x720
                1680x1050
I think the 1024 seems familiar but I'm not sure and I don't really want to get it all set out then find it's too big or too small.

I would greatly appreciate some help with this.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Page Size Help Please
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 15 Oct 11 - 09:39 AM

Personally, I'd not go bigger than 1024x768.

I'm not sure there is much need to go down to 800x600.

This W3C page may help give some idea.

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Page Size Help Please
From: wilbyhillbilly
Date: 15 Oct 11 - 10:03 AM

Thanks Jon, that's put my mind at rest. The link was handy too.

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Page Size Help Please
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Oct 11 - 10:04 AM

Your web kit is probably putting your page in a table and sizing it according to the typical screen sizes. You may find, however, that even the old standard 1024x768 (the old television-shaped monitor) is too wide to comfortably read across the entire screen. When I put up web pages I choose the size of the table I want to use and if someone displays my table on their full screen the table constrains the size of the box with the text in it.

I typically make the tables about 800 pixels wide and don't put a height on it - people will scroll down but they are much less willing to scroll sideways. So you could go 800 and not put in a height and it would probably look good.

This page of links goes to regular web newsletters put out at my university. Click on any of them and you'll see that the message is constrained in a table. It's easy to read, like the width of a book page, not text that goes as wide as the monitor and makes your eyes and brain work a lot harder.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Page Size Help Please
From: wilbyhillbilly
Date: 15 Oct 11 - 10:15 AM

Thanks SRS I'll try that, (it looks good) although I'm not sure how to set "tables".

No doubt it will tell me somewhere amongst these thousands of instructions.

Good job they are not in a hurry:-)

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Page Size Help Please
From: treewind
Date: 15 Oct 11 - 10:46 AM

It's the width that matters more than the height. Everyone's used to scrolling up and down, but having to scroll sideways is a pain.

Matching it to monitor sizes is quite arbitrary, as even with the browser set full screen the page windows is not the full width of the screen. So if someone has a display 1024 pixels wide, a web page 1024 pixels wide will not fit because the browser may put at least a scroll bar alongside it. Also many users open browsers in a window, not full screen (I always do)

Most of my sites were designed to be 800 pixels wide (800x600), but they were designed 3 years ago or more - current practice seems to be standardized on 1024. I wouldn't go higher than that.

Also consider elastic layouts where the page size adjusts to the width of the viewing window. You can combine this with maximum and minimum sizes in CSS to limit the amount of stretching and squashing.

And finally - consider whether your site is ever likely to be used with smartphones - that puts some interesting constraints on width and usability!

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Page Size Help Please
From: wilbyhillbilly
Date: 15 Oct 11 - 11:13 AM

Thanks, it's now starting to get complicated, I'm not exactly computer friendly :-)

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Page Size Help Please
From: treewind
Date: 15 Oct 11 - 12:02 PM

Doesn't have to be complicated.
Just pick 1024x768 and look for your next thing to worry about :-)

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Page Size Help Please
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Oct 11 - 11:54 PM

I'd go for 1024x768, which fits nicely in most widescreen monitors. BUT people can't comfortably read a screenful of text that wide, I'd divide that space into at least three columns. Two narrow columns with a wide one in the center works well.
I was very proud of the Website I designed for the women's center where I do volunteer work, but I got pushed out of the job. Our development director wanted something that would work on "smart" phones, and I couldn't design a site that looked good in both widescreen and smartphone formats. The new Website was designed by a high school computer class using Wordpress. It's OK, but I liked mine better.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Page Size Help Please
From: wilbyhillbilly
Date: 16 Oct 11 - 09:31 AM

Thanks all I'll do the 1024 and hope it comes out ok.

Joe, thanks for the tips, I would just like to say that I remember seeing YOUR womens' center site some time ago and it was definitely better than the current one, IMHO anyway.

Subject: RE: Tech: Web Page Size Help Please
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 16 Oct 11 - 02:44 PM

The (or one) way to get a website to work on both widescreen and mobile formats is to start with basic code that degrades well (which also helps with accessibility for screen readers, old browser versions, etc.) and to designate separate stylesheets for mobile browsers.

Probably TMI for willybilly, but Joe may understand the lingo.

As someone who's read enough to be dangerous, I've decided it's a complicated world and getting more so, and I'd rather someone else do the actual work.

~ Becky in Tucson