[thelist] Line lengths + screen sizes (was RE: Site Critique)

Paul Cowan paul at wishlist.com.au
Tue Aug 28 19:45:40 CDT 2001


Wade Armstrong [mailto:wade at runstrong.com] wrote:
> I think the fixed design works a little better... line 
> lengths get a bit
> long past 1024x768 on the liquid design.

Really? I've never understood this argument. People here use it all the 
time: "readability studies show that line lengths over [x] words are
hard to read, we should shrink everything to a fixed pixel width."

No, you shouldn't. I run my screen at 1280x1024; I have my browser window
maxxed. If I found it hard to read, I would change my resolution or
resize my window. My having a maxxed browser window at that res, perhaps
indicates I PREFER that line length?

I am strongly in favour of letting the user have the choice. The user 
will consider the readability vs. visible information tradeoff, and 
form their own opinions. I hate it when sites take up 600 pixels in the 
middle of my screen, leaving an acre of white space. If I wanted that, 
I would shrink my window and set a white desktop background.

Liquid designs are far superior for usability, in my opinion.

Here endeth the rant. 

Cheers,

Paul.






More information about the thelist mailing list