Rimantas Liubertas wrote:
<...>
Part of the point of web standards in general is that the user and
user agent have final control of the layout, not the designer. So
if the page is too wide on a 21 inch monitor, why not reduce the
window size?
<...>
Two questions - then what are designers for? Maybe just throw the
info and leave all the rest for the users to control? Paint it
yourself style of web.
You've got that one partially backwards.
- Users should have access to the info -- regardless of the design.
- A good designer makes the most out of the design, while making sure
the design don't get in the way of the content *if* the user wants control.
And the second one: why do you assume users WANT control? I want to
get info, not to fiddle with my browser's window size.
Most don't want control of anything--anywhere, and very few know that
they can take control--anywhere. Some users want *some* control, so why
not let them have it? The web is well suited for user-control, unless
designers make it impossible. Sites that can't take *some* user-control
without breaking, are not well designed.
Why fiddle when you can define your basic control once, and make it
apply to nearly all sites? If designers care to test, and take into
account, at least the most basic options in the most used browsers, then
there shouldn't be any real problems.
Sure, web is not print, but our eyes are still the same, and the same
rules apply (at least regarding line length).
Our eyes are the same, but comfortable reading from screens is usually
not the same as comfortable reading from paper. Distances are often
different, and printing on reflective media have been developed to suit
our needs (our eyes) over hundreds of years, while web design still has
a long way to go.
So if fixed width is absolute no-no, then there is a good compromise
- elastic layout.
Don't think there are any 'no-no' regarding fixed width (as long as it
works), but defining 'min/max width' on a fluid layout will do in most
cases.
Elastic layouts do have the disadvantage of 'going off screen' in some
(badly designed) cases, which to me mean I'll have to apply the 'fit to
window' option (in Opera) to make them readable. Well, I, as a user, am
back in control then.
regards
Georg
--
http://www.gunlaug.no
******************************************************
The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm
for some hints on posting to the list & getting help
******************************************************
