Ib Jensen wrote:
> That means roughly, that a "developer" should have at least three
> screens with different resolutions and X number of browsers
> installed, on different systems, to in fact have a chance to guess
> which size of units to use.
Not at all. You can check all conditions on a screen with high enough
resolution, but you may have to keep track of those browsers and how
they evolve and respond to changes on the hardware side.
The reason I opted for such a large screen-area on my workstation, is
that I can simulate nearly all hardware/software induced conditions on
it through a few clicks. Most web designers can simulate parts of
modified conditions at the user-end by zooming up and down the entire
page in a capable browser.
First: get the terms, and sizes, right.
Resolution is somewhere between 72 and 300dpi and most viewports/screens
are between 640 and 3600px wide. Resolution vs pixel-width affect actual
screen size, so a 2400px wide screen with 220dpi resolution (not many of
those around, but they're coming) will be physically quite small in
size. So, forget about 15", 17", 19" and so on for screens. A screen is
so and so many screen-pixels wide and tall, regardless of its actual size.
This resolution vs. size range can not be covered by web designers by
using "one size fits all" methods - the browsers and end-user settings
have to bridge the gap. What we have to do is to allow browsers to do
their job - we have to work _with_ the media and not against them, and
only decide which limits we have to set so our creations have a chance
to survive.
The only somewhat safe way to lay out web pages so they work everywhere,
is to not lock sizes to anything but viewport - using percentage, and
decide what is too wide or too narrow for our creations.
'em' is locked to font-size, so 'em' is in most cases only useful for
setting limits - min-width and/or max-width, and those limits should be
quite generous.
'px' is also locked, so they're also most useful for setting generous
limits.
In time browsers and other software will be modified to "un-lock" both
'em' and 'px' - in a way, in order to make sensible use of higher
resolution on screens. Full page zoom is one way to do that, and most
browsers already have the basics (for manual setting) in place.
Screen-pixels and design-pixels then become relative to each other - as
they already are on regular printers, and the software will do the
conversion (see "wishful thinking" in another thread today).
For full page zoom browsers seem to go the "adaptive zoom" route,
probably because they can't cover the wide resolution/actual screen size
range any other way and make it "fit on screen" for all end-users. Most
fluid-width designs will then work quite well without modifications, but
both 'em' sized and 'px' sized designs may run into range problems since
they can't really adapt to viewports/screens unless browsers override
their fixed width (my browser-preference can already do that).
Fixed-width layouts, being it 'px' or 'em', will probably never go out
of fashion ... they just won't work very well outside their creators'
preferred range.
Support for "media queries" is slowly growing across browser-land, so we
are, or will be, able to modify our designs a bit to suit the various
conditions. Great care has to be taken here though, as we must know what
various browsers actually do under various conditions before we try to
"improve things".
Now, browsers and screen-resolutions can only go one way, upwards, while
screen-sizes can and will go both ways. Thus, the future for rendering
on flat screens is predictable, although it is hard to say how quickly
they evolve and spread. They have to introduce one or more non-flat
"screens" for anything to change.
So, IMO, it is best *not* to convert a fluid layout into anything else
right now, but instead only control the upper and lower limit for its
fluidity so it doesn't become ridiculously and/or unusably wide or narrow.
That this "control of fluidity" can be achieved both forward and in
reverse, and in a few other ways, may complicate matters for those who
haven't grasped the whole "adapt or fail" concept. However, rising
resolution and both larger and smaller screens and various devices are
hitting the market around us, so quick learners will be at an advantage.
regards
Georg
--
http://www.gunlaug.no
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