Re: [boost] Re: [website] Oh the fun..

From: Rene Rivera (grafik.list_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-04-27 21:36:34

Eelis van der Weegen wrote:
> I think this layout makes unreasonable assumptions about the browser 

Unreasonable for whom?

> window width, and looks terrible when viewed in a slightly less wide 
> browser window.
> 
> Here's an example screenshot:  http://www.xs4all.nl/~weegen/ss.png
> 
> Note that this does not just affect people who use 800x600 or smaller 
> resolutions. 

1. That screenshot is less than 800 pixels wide.

2. I think just about all web designers agree that 800x600 is the 
minimum one should design for at this time.

3. When I do the usual web designer test of resizing to 800x600 there is 
no horizontal scrolling needed. Like this one:

http://redshift-software.com/~grafik/boost/snapshot-1.png

>It also affects people who don't maximize their browser 
> window to fill the entire screen. 

I don't maximize the browser, actually I don't maximize any window. But 
then again I have a 3200x1200 desktop :-)

> For example, people (like me) who use 
> tiled window managers often split their screen up into two equal-sized 
> side-by-side windows (each containing one application such as a 
> browser). Personally I find it extremely annoying when websites make me 
> scroll horizontally for no good reason (this is especially the case on 
> the version_history page).

I find that annoying also.. But one has to make compromises when given 
conflicting requests.

It was not my intent to put the same width restriction on the history 
page. So that's a bug.

> As for the links, I agree with Victor; changing link formatting is yet 
> another symptom of overly eager webdesigners' trying to control every 
> last pixel on the screen because their precious design "depends" on it, 
> while breaking usability for users who use a less common configuration. 

As I said in the other post.. It's not. It's just not a possibility to 
accommodate user level settings without also abandoning design almost 
completely. The best we can hope for is to design in enough flexibility 
to make the majority of users happy.

> The website should just provide structured content and leave it up to 
> the user's browser and preferences to do the final formatting.

That's a nice dream.. And with the current arrangement you can attain 
it.  The current design is entirely CSS based. Which means that you can 
turn it off, or use your own design. -- Of course that's assuming your 
browser will let you.

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