Laptops

[lmott]

I need advice re: widescreen laptops. Is there some way a 16:9 aspect ratio(widescreen) display can be used for Web design. I know you can change resolutions (to say 800x600) - but what will that look like on a widescreen?

thanks

[joecoolfreak]

I am confused as to how your resolution would affect web design. If you change your screen to 800x600 resolution, your screen would look distorted. I guess I don't know exactly what you are asking, could you be more specific with your question?

[lmott]

I guess the question is --- how do you design a precise web page on a wide screen (16:9 aspect ratio) - to be viewed by the majority of desktop users with a square screen (4:3 aspect ratio)?

[joecoolfreak]

I assume that you are using a WYSIWYG program like frontpage or Dreamweaver to do your webdesign. That means that you are laying out the design graphically as opposed to using the raw code to place things. The easiest way I can suggest to "fix" your problem would be to do a small bit of research on absolute positioning and make sure that you size all of your graphics accordingly. I usually design for the lowest common demoninator, which these days for me is 800x600. There are smaller resolutions out there in use, but not very common. As long as all of your content fits in that block and you use the correct positioning, sites should be viewable in 4:3 aspect ratio just fine. I hope this helps.

[Ferre]

That was a question I had in my mind too, when I bought my new laptop. At the end I didn't go for a widescreen because I do a lot of graphics and site design on it.

[John Scott]

I have a widescreen Toshiba laptop, but don't use it too much. Kind of big for a laptop.

[Calisonder]

i have the same prob, if u write your own code, the best way is just to test it on differant computers, or post the link on here, and have everyone tell you if it's messed up or not

[kwvarga]

I have 2 monitors, one is running at 1600x1200 and the other at 1280x1024.
this lets me just move the site from 1 to the other and see how it scales

[LazyJim]

Resize your browser and application windows, (or canvas/workspace/page) to the correct size!

Paste / enter these links into your browser address bar to resize your curent browser window... (and add them to your favourites so you can access them any time!)...

TV Safe (I hope):

javascript: void(window.resizeTo(544,372));

VGA:

javascript:void(window.resizeTo(640,480));

SVGA:

javascript:void(window.resizeTo(800,600));

XGA:

javascript:void(window.resizeTo(1024,768));

As for which ones are most important - that's another issue but I say make sure it looks good in SVGA & XGA, and still is usable in lower/higher resolutions.

p.s. remember to aim for the available space inside the browser window, allowing for scroll bar etc.

p.s.s. If the links don't work check your browser options, Firefox allows you to choose if web sites are allowed to resize windows and other things (In Firefox: tools > options > content > Advanced (oposite JavaScript tickbox).) other browsers or security suits may have similar.

[Michael Allison]

My best advice is to see if that fancy shmancy screen can change aspect ratios. My cheap Nvidia card can do it on my PC, so it would surprise me if a widescreen can't be adjusted to the usual specs.

Also, when you are doing the work, use percentages for width and height, where applicable, and use "em" for font sizes, as opposed to pixels or points. Those are scalable and will look pretty much the same on all monitors at all resolutions.

I only use pixels in <img> tags. Everywhere else, I use percentages and em. It saves me a lot of headaches.

Good Luck,
Michael

[RowdyRed94]

There are developer tools for IE and possibly Firefox that automatically size the window to your selected size - it won't be affected by your screen's physical size.

I code with dual monitors, so I often set the second to my smallest design size (usually 800x600) and toss it over there to test.


Edit: quick search results:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en
http://www.webaim.org/techniques/eva...devtool#resize

[Klaas Koopman]

I got a laptop aswell, and use 1024 and don't have any problems designing!

[RowdyRed94]

Klaas, are we to assume that all your designs are liquid, or do you just ignore 15" monitor users at 800x600?

[T0d]

That's an easy problem to solve just buy more computers