In the print world, a designer creates pages to be viewed in final form at a fixed size. The paper stock, printing quality, and size are all controlled. A Web designer, on the other hand, has to account for a greater number of possibilities. You have to consider not only the variety of browsers users might have but also the size and resolution of their monitors. The number of screen types on which users can view Web pages has increased and will continue to do so. Users view Web pages on computers, TVs, cell phones, PDAs (such as the Palm), and more. If you have only text on a page, the text reflows within the page based on the size of the browser window. As a Web designer, you then have no control over the look of the page. The user can maximize the window, making long and hard-to-read lines. If you want to control the flow of the text on the page, you can place your text within a table or use CSS to limit line length for text in a cell. When you design a page with a fixed width, you might want to design to the lowest common denominator of monitor sizes that your audience will be using. If you think most of your users have 13-inch monitors, you should use that size. Remember that the browser takes up some room to the left and right of the screen, even if the user maximizes the window. There is no set rule for the amount of room a browser uses, so you should allow for the browser. For 13-inch monitors, for example, make the maximum page width 600 pixels (not accounting for space taken up by the browser and operating system). To determine the maximum page width, refer to the following chart.
Note The visitors' need to be able to print Web pages is important to consider. It is particularly important to make your pages printable or provide printer-friendly versions for pages with a great deal of text or pages that viewers will be likely to need to print. The dimension for a printable page is 535 pixels. Although tables provide quick and dirty layouts, printing is one of the many reasons to consider using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). It offers more flexibility in design; and gives you the ability to create specify CSS files used only for printing, allowing you to ensure that your layout is printer-friendly. |