Re: [boost] Re: [website] More "improvements"..

From: Jeff Garland (jeff_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-04-03 23:50:07

On Mon, 04 Apr 2005 00:19:29 -0400, Miro Jurisic wrote
 
> People who insist on saying that fixed width wastes spaces are 
> usually trying to solve the wrong problem. If you are reading text,
>  how much space is wasted is usually irrelevant -- the relevant 

I still disagree with this -- there are precious few pixels on the monitor. 
The density of information is much lower than a printed page.  Wasting space
leads to poor user interaction.

> qualities are your ability to quickly scan for important information 
> and to read the content efficiently. Making lines arbitrarily long 
> compromises your ability to read efficiently even though it makes 
> more text fit on your screen.

Well you can say that, but resize the page -- there's lots of wasted
whitespace with fixed width. With fixed width the publisher is in control --
with variable with the user is in control.  If you like short lines it is easy
to adjust your browser window size to achieve the desired effect.  If I want
wide lines I can do that.  
 
>...snip...
>
> My opinion is that the text should by default be set to a maximum 
> width, because I believe that the default layout should emphasize 
> readability, not spatial efficiency. 

I favor user control over publisher control.  

Jeff

ps: In case you can't tell this one is a pet peeve of mine -- I really, really
dislike fixed width sites.  Let's not make Boost one of them.