Preserved Topic: Screen resolution

Hi guys, this may seem like a stupid question but I want to know if I'm doing it right or wrong.

I believe that by far the majority of people still view the web using 800x600 (horrible!) so obviously I design sites to fit that screen resolution. When I'm designing them and the graphics for them I change my screen resolution to 800x600 so I can see how it will look.

Is this the best way of doing it because I hate viewing at that resolution?

Thanks in anticipation. . .

The easiest way is to just grab a bookmarklet from http://www.bookmarklet.com for the window size changes...get the one for 800x600 and just use it when checking for that.

But on a somewhat side note, 800x600 browsers can really only display 770x420 or thereabouts (what with the side bar and the top & bottom bars).

The links not working, what does a bookmarlet actually do? Im confused.

Jestah
ieJestah@hotmail.com
ICQ - 77252449

a bookmarklet goes in your bookmarks, and when you click it the window size changes to desired window size....you'll be able to see as much of the page as a person with that resolution could.

Here's what I do. Create a new .html page somewhere you can access it. in the head of the document, put this:

<script language="Javascript">

function popit(x,y,windowname)

{

with (document.popitupform) 

{

pageurl=url.value;

if (pageurl.indexOf("://")==-1) {pageurl="http://"+pageurl};

windowstring="toolbar=yes,location=yes,directories=yes,status=no,menubar=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,width="+x+",height="+y;

MyNewWindow=window.open(pageurl, windowname,windowstring);

}

}

</script>

and then in the body somewhere, put this:

<form name="popitupform">

<input type="Text" name="url" value="http://" size="42" STYLE="background:1A9C97">



<input type="button" value="640x480" onClick="popit(640,480,'640x480')">

<input type="button" value="800x600" onClick="popit(800,600,'800x600')">

<input type="button" value="1024x768" onClick="popit(1024,768,'1024x768')">

<input type="button" value="1280x1024" onClick="popit(1280,1024,'1280x1024')"></center>

</form>

then, enter a URL you want to check, and click the corresponding button. the URL will pop up in a new window exactly the size you need.


'Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense'

[This message has been edited by Tycho (edited 21-08-2000).]

Manually create a new bookmark and use this as the URL:
javascript:void(outerWidth=800);void(outerHeight=600)

I know that one works with NN, but the syntax may differ for IE, I dunno. Bookmarklets.com has NN and IE versions for many of the bookmarklets.

BTW, what's so horrible about viewing at 800x600? Whenever I even bother to view a site designed for 1024x768 or larger, I either see way too much on the page to comprehend at a glance or nothing that couldn't be fit in a smaller window.

Jestah; that's because I conveniently forgot to put the S at the end; bookmarklets.com.

But the syntax is easy in IE; make a new bookmark and direct it to:

javascript:resizeTo(800,600)

Thanks for the tips guys, but my problem is not finding a quick way to change resolutions.
My problem is, do you design and produce the site whilst in 800x600 resolution? I don't like this resolution, its just a personal thing but for my tastes, the menu bars etc. are too big and I find it annoying.
you see, if I design the graphics and stuff whilst in my usual resolution of 1024x720, when I view the web page in 800x600, the graphics are way too big and look crap.
Help.. .

Actually I don't think 800x600 is a bad size to design to. I personally try to keep my stuff under 700 wide or put more trivial stuff on the right. Notice I don't design to the screen res more the browser size. The thing is how many people browse with their browser fully expanded? People at 8x6 probably more so than those at higher resolutions. I run at 1152x864 and I've found that the 700 number is about at the size I keep my browser so it works well.


Walking the Earth like Kane

Bitdamage, so when your designing stuff and you keep your window to 700 pixels wide, is your monitor still set at 1152x864 ?
Sorry to go on about this but its really confusing me.
Be patient, after all I'm still relatively new to all this.

Lets start with this, when I design stuff I do it in Photoshop. As far as I know this is common practice. So I create a New psd that is 800px wide knowing that there should be some space on the right free when I am done.

So then I design it from there and dump it into Image Ready so I can hack up all the graphics, then I warm up the old text editor and go from there.

In terms of the browser size, I have no idea what the actual size of my browser window is, it changes frequently, but when I test I will shrink it and expand it to different sizes, but if I've done my work right it should not make a difference.

Just to be straight I HATE scrolling horizontally. So for me I would prefer to keep the width between 600-700 because that is what I am comfortable at. Of course if I expand my brower window to it's fullest width I am going to get a bunch of white space but I can deal with that.

Really do what you feel comfortable with. If you are new to the game just pick a size and design to those dimensions if someone is paying you, then start worrying about all the little stuff.


Walking the Earth like Kane

As far as the designing process is concerned set your resolution at whatever gives you enough screen real-estate. I work at 1024x768. That doesnt influence my designs though, because I design all my sites to work in 640x480. I simply open up a new Photoshop doc of size 600x400.

Your resolution need not affect the size of your graphics while designing. As long as you use the pixel widths that you want you can't go wrong.