[thelist] resizing in browswer

[Simon Coggins]

> Actually, I'd argue that having to change my browser size each time to
> be able to read the text properly is *just* as annoying as horizontal
> scrolling. When I have my browser open to full screen, I can then see as
> much as possible vertically - this helps with reading quickly screen by
> screen. 

You could always browse with a tall, thin window... :)
 
> I forget what the screen resolution statistics are at this point, but
> 640x480 users are increasingly rare (I'm not including Web TV users,
> which we tend to see as an entirely different design issue). For sites
> that we design that are over the 570 limit (at this point I believe we
> tend to design mostly for 800x600 because of information display needs),
> we tend to place information in a way that sets off the least important
> information in a column on the right side of the screen. 

One I my sites has had 20% of its visitors using 640x480 over the last two
years. The subject of whether to cater for 640x480 users was discussed fairly 
recently here, so I don't want to repeat it all now, but I'm still wary of
dismissing the 640x480 bunch. Once again, it's all about knowing your
audience.

Putting less important info on the right is a possible solution,
particularly if you use JavaScript to hide it for the narrow window case,
but finding content that is important enough to display but not important
enough for everyone can be a delicate balance.

I'm afraid that this topic falls into the "you can't please all of the
people all of the time" category. I tend to decide on the best approach on
a per site basis.

To give everyone something to shoot down, here are a couple of sites I've
done that use different approaches:

Liquid Tables:
http://freespace.virginnet.co.uk/solar.system/
(sorry about the FONT tags, haven't finished upgrading this one to CSS!)

Fixed Width Tables:
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/astronomy/


Which works best for you?


Simon