[thelist] Design Resolutions

Seb seb at admin.evolt.org
Tue Feb 20 10:52:54 CST 2001


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> is it just me or does that kind of defeat the purpose of evolt?
> aren't 'you' the exact people i should be asking for design advice?

Hi annie,

Of course, evolt is exactly the place to go for your nutritional
daily advice. However, please take a little pinch of salt with each
serving.

As far as resolutions go, the current minimum requirement for Windows
is 640x480 VGA, which in plain english means 16 colours. (Yes, 16,
not 16 bit.)

But everyone knows that the only people viewing websites at that
resolution are those suffering from seriously outdated hardware. In
reality, you can expect 800x600 and 256 colours from almost all
users, and you can hope for 1024x768 and 16 bit from a majority.

It's worth noting that as of this year, Microsoft Windows (consumer
version) will ship with a requirement of XGA, which is 1024x768 at
16-bit colour. Nary a single video card has shipped in the last 2
years which is not capable of this. Even my ancient cruddy el-cheapo
Tosh laptop with its utterly pathetic 2MB of video ram chugs along
happily at this resolution. 

But hey, these are all just rough ideas. If you want accurate
figures, you need to research your audience. Poll them, solicit
feedback, whatever. You might be designing a site for hardcore Linux
hackers who (in my experience, ie: at home) run ridiculously high
resolutions like 2048x1600 at 32 bit but only use 1/4 of the screen
for their browser, or then again, you might be aiming at Sony C1X
Picturebook owners with their tiny 20 column movie-os style screens.
In the end, you're best placed to make this decision.

Hope this helps,

Seb.

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