Preserved Topic: Designing for different resolutions (Page 1 of 1)

When I want to make my pages work in all resolutions, I just make it for 640*400. The problem with this is that it gets soooo small for people with bigger resoultions.

Another possibility is of course to make one set of pages for 640*400, one for 800*600 and one for 1024*768. But this is awfully much more work.

Is there any other ways?

Well Einardo, you have to balance what's most important to you, designing for the lowest resolution folks, or filling up the screens for the high res folks.

There are ways to cheat a bit of course....hell they pay us for a reason <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/wink.gif">

Using a dynamic table layout is one method. Using Frames is another.

I prefer using Dynamic Tables to Frames most times, as it's incredibly simple to create really BAD design with frames...and tough to get it right, and for the right reasons.

Using a Dynamic table layout is tough to do properly as well, it often requires special backgrounds that will tile properly at any resolution, and graphics that are created specifically to blend with that background at any given point in it's tiling.

Frames Layouts can work almost exactly the same way to help enhance a design that might seem a bit cramped at low resolutions, and a bit sparse at higher res.

Sadly, I'm too tired to find good examples right now, so I'll just toss my own out there.
http://ancientstudios.com

On the main "Splash" page, I worked the center table background to repeat seamlessly, while creating the Ancient Studios logo to always align to the browser's right, and look correct no matter where it falls over that background. If you drag the resolution of your browser smaller, you'll see how the page sort of "collapses" without bringing in the Horizontal Scrollbar of Death, or even a vertical scrollbar, until your resolution is well below 640x480.

All that's been done there (other than the top frame and main frame..ignore that..hehe) is to create a table that is dynamic, by using percentage widths, and heights instead of hard integers.


When done right, it works well....when done poorly...it's BLATANTLY obvious.

So, ultimately you have to consider the entire design when doing this, as well as if it's going to make enough of a difference to be feasible, and work cross browser and platform.


Hopefully that helps a bit, and doesn't cause too much confusion...it's late..me tired...and now me sleep.

<img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/biggrin.gif">

Peter



ICQ:# 10237808

it does take practice, thats for sure. frames are certainly the worst way to go in my opinion.

you can mix absolute dimensions with percentages while building tables. just remember that when you say width=50 for your td, thats a minimum value, not a maximum!

i design in 800x600 with a 15" monitor. yuckie, i know.. but average joe surfer is probably going to be using 15" monitor too, since thats what his gateway shipped with. i have a second machine (my NT server) sitting next to me in 600x400ish res to check for broken layout. i occasionally bump up the resolution on this machine to see there too.

also, css is your friend when doing backgrounds that only tile vertically or horizontally <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">

Man frames really suck! Layers suck too! They make things far too complex and messy! Tables are the way to go for sure, but it dose take some experience to deal with them in the right way. Keep at it and you will get there <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/wink.gif">

I agree with what everyone else and say use the tables over the frames. You'll get the hang of using the dynamic tables fairly quick. You seemed to be willing to learn about it so Im sure you'll catch on quick.

Thanx everybody!

With dynamic tables, do you mean putting in percentages in the tables rather than actual pixels?

Yup percentages.
The main trick is making sure the table won't collapse if the browser size gets too small usually I use graphics to keep my cells from getting too small.
www.cnet.com uses this as well as www.gymamaerica.com <-- I like this one better nice design yet resizes really well


Walking the Earth like Kane

Personally, I go this route:

With every design I do, I have the option for low-res browsers to download all the images and print them out. That being done, they follow the template that is also available for download and they stick the printed images on their monitor screen corresponding to the template.

Now **that** makes things easier.

For the really well-paying customer, I also offer prints of the content with an arrow at the top and the bottom. The trick is to teach the user how to "scroll" the text by moving the paper up and down without it getting in front of the "images".