[thelist] three usability questions

Diane Soini dianesoini at earthlink.net
Sun Jul 4 16:06:23 CDT 2004


On Sunday, July 4, 2004, at 04:01 AM, thelist-request at lists.evolt.org 
wrote:
>
> Mike Hopkins wrote:
>
>> Just for my personal reference, can you offer stats for the
>> number of people who surf in other-than-maximized states? Or
>> sources for that information? Those numbers would have serious
>> implications for web design.
>
> Turn it around; what stats can you offer about people using their
> browsers in a *maximized* state?
>
> I've personally seen maybe a dozen such cases since 1993, so I'd
> assume it's aberrant behavior :-)

I have no stats and do not understand why they would be useful. What 
does "maximized" really mean? If I have my taskbar on the side instead 
of the bottom how does that affect the meaning of maximized? What if I 
am using a Mac? What if I have 800x600 resolution or something else? 
What if my screen is not maximized, but I still stretch it to fill as 
much space as possible?

Probably the best stats would be those relevant to your project. You 
could use web reporting to determine this information, if your 
reporting tool gives you the capability to gather customized data. It 
wouldn't be totally reliable data, but it might give you an idea. By 
not reliable I mean that I believe IE has a javascript window property 
for determining if a window is maximized, but I do not know how many 
other browsers also have that property or a similar one.

(p.s. I observed someone yesterday who likes to use his browser in full 
screen mode.)



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