Screen sizes

They have: 62 posts

Joined: Jan 2002

I am working on a couple of small sites at the moment and since they are designed to promote artwok I would like to make them look good on as many screen sizes as I can.

What I would like to do is size the pages to fit well on different resolutions without scrollbars.
I have a couple good redirection scripts and since the sites are so small, it's no problem to whip up versions of the pages for different sizes.

My question is: What is the max pixel sizes I should use on different resoulutions to get rid of the scroll bars (bottom and side) ?

I know how wide to make it for 800 x 600, but I have no idea how tall. I also have no clue what size to shoot for with any other resolution (except 640 x 480).

I'd appreciate any help! Smiling

The purpose of education is to
get more jokes.

He has: 1,016 posts

Joined: May 2002

This is a very hard question Karen. There is no way you can make it fit perfectly for all users since some users have the address bar and the link bar showing on top of eachother, another person only has the address bar, another person might have some other plugins, etc. About the width, I usually just take whatever screenresolution I'm making the site for and do minus 50px. But then again, if the user is running a higher resolution, he/she is most likely not running the browser maximized.

Suzanne's picture

She has: 5,507 posts

Joined: Feb 2000

There used to be all sorts of measures for all the browsers and screen sizes, but for the life of me, I don't know where they are now.

Basically, saving about 50px sideways and not worrying about height is a reasonable estimate. The height will change depending on how many toolbars the person has open on the browser and on the desktop, and will also vary for different operating systems, so anything over 300 px high will probably scroll for someone, somewhere.

They have: 62 posts

Joined: Jan 2002

Thanks so much for the replys.

I agree that 50 pixels less on width seems to work for everyone I've ever talked to.

I finally found this article at webmonkey:
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/99/41/index3a.html
Hopefully it will at least give me a start in the right direction for sizing my pages vertically.

I guess the finished product will tell. Smiling

The purpose of education is to
get more jokes.

mairving's picture

They have: 2,256 posts

Joined: Feb 2001

It seems like I run into more and more people that run in a 640x480 mode, then in IE they have the favorites button clicked so that another 100px's or so is gone on the left side. I most often do mine with a mixture of fixed widths at around 720px and % to fill the screen.

Mark Irving
I have a mind like a steel trap; it is rusty and illegal in 47 states

The Webmistress's picture

She has: 5,586 posts

Joined: Feb 2001

This could start up so many other debates as well like fixed or flexible designs, but basically not everyone will see your design as you wanted it but then if they have a small screen, low resolution, extra stuff all around their browser then they'll be used to scrolling!!

Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....

mairving's picture

They have: 2,256 posts

Joined: Feb 2001

Maybe we should start a campaign to rid the world of 640x480. But you know what happens when you change someone's resolution. They complain that they can't see their icons, their text is too small, etc.

Mark Irving
I have a mind like a steel trap; it is rusty and illegal in 47 states

He has: 1,016 posts

Joined: May 2002

Quote: Originally posted by mairving
But you know what happens when you change someone's resolution. They complain that they can't see their icons, their text is too small, etc.

That's only for the first day or so. When I see someone running low resolution, I tell them to change it to a higher one and that I know it will be too small, but just use it till tomorrow and if it still bothers you by tomorrow, change it back. So far, 100% have been like "WOW, there's so much room on my desktop now, this is so cool!" the next day Laughing out loud

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