please empty your brain below

Goodness! You don't have to run your browser fullscreen. Drag it to the size you feel comfortable with, then you have strips at the side to use for something else. Google Desktop perhaps?

dg writes: No thanks. I like my browser fullscreen because, when it works, it's worth it.

Glad you're up and running again. Felt very sorry for you - been there, done that, as have 50\\% of Mr Gates customers.

Try Opera browser. Apart from being free and faster than any other (inluding FireFox) it has more easy display tuning than you can shake a bent stick at, all on keypress and independent of the way the page is written. Sounds like the one you might like is Ctrl-F11, fit to screen width. It doesn't replace IE or FF, but it is seriously cool. Other unique Opera features are: forward/back are instantaneous, one click to change that purple font on black background to a standard black on white, zoom in and out on + and - key, mouse gestures (love the words, even though I don't use them), single key switch off for Java etc etc etc.

You may have guessed that I like it.

dg writes: But I don't want to rely on keypress-dependent functionality, thanks (and I'm too hitched to Firefox).

But if you have a superwide screen and all pages adapt to fit the maximum width, lines of text become unreadable... when you reach the end of one line and try to find next one is sometimes very difficult to do so
That's why pages have a maximum width (at least in my case)
Glad to listen your opinion about my sector, once again. :D

dg writes: Just because some people can't read maximum width lines of text doesn't mean I can't. Sorry, this is a personal choice thing.

Love the sound of those mouse gestures. Could be a way to get rid of superfluous kittens.

Misanthropic old git.

Readability = fixed-width. Same reason newspapers have columns, and books are printed on separate pages.

However it should be possible for people to offer a 'choice' but usually for a personal hobby site (like wot blog are) that choice is stifled by personal preference.

Me? I can't stand huge wide chunks of text that I can't read. So I don't have them on my site either. And no-one else has complained (not even you) so I guess it's not that much of a problem??

dg writes: On your site, Gordon, the small text size really helps to cram more content into one screenful. And I appreciate that.

Agree that depth is an issue that a lot of people ignore though, the top 1/3 of your page is about all most people will see... those big banners are just daft (I'm looking at you, default WordPress theme users!).

Ohh and don't forget that widescreens are still too new to be considered 'standard'. 800x600 is the minimum size most designers will code to, although 1024x768 is catching up fast!

I don't understand why anyone would want a widescreen on a pc/laptop in any case.
widescreen TVs are logical since they adapt to present what has been made for years (films in widescreen). But until we all start writing letters in landscape, then A4 is A4 and the best way to view what you are doing is with a tall thin screen (as is used in some professions), not short and fat, ergo widescreen PC screens are a complete waste of money and will never be of any use unless you want to use your laptop to watch DVDs.
Our new web site is being carefully designed to sit on a standard screen, with links and text laid out to look good, if we suddenly enabled a rewrite to fit wide screens it would be all wrong. Time to vote with your feet and only buy sensible screens me thinks.

dg writes: Next time I'll buy a laptop with an A4 portrait-sized screen (great idea, actually, mr BW). Trouble is, when I go to shut down the lid it won't fit on top of the A4 landscape-sized keyboard.

Actually, DG, your blog might widen the columns to fit the maximum screen but it doesn't do the same for minimum. If I drag my browser down to just above half the screen width [it's a 17" screen set at 1024x768] then your text adapts and wraps - but I lose your side column. Any smaller, and the text stays the same and I have to scroll across. Could just be my computer/IE, of course

dg writes: You're absolutely right - if you shrink my page below a width of about 650, you start losing the sidebar. But you start losing fixed width blogs at widths greater than that.

I hate wide webpages. Scrolling to the right means that you lose the eyeline of what you're reading by the time you scroll back to the left to continue.

I thought about this long and hard the last time you raised it - and even had a little twiddle, just to see how things looked - but, nope, sorry, I'm leaving things fixed-width. There are greater resource wastage issues in the world than unused white space on computer screens!

dg writes: I'm blaming my screen this time, mike, not your page. But I'm still going to have to learn to scroll down more, and I'm concerned that this extra effort means I might not always bother.

The best place for web content is 'on my screen', not off the bottom of it.

I just knew nobody would understand

OK, I'll just edit the post to make my point a little more clearly...

Well I agree with you, even if no one else does!!

DG, have you seen those "tablet laptops"? They are A4 portrait when in scribbly mode, but open up to reveal a keyboard and then switch to landscape mode.

I saw one where the display detaches so you can position it at any angle you like.....!

Mate, blogger put your blog as a must see "we've just noticed" blog. I lept at the chance to be whinged at - you've got great technology, wise up, stop moaning, be thankful and get on with it. the world is full of whinging bloggers - get on with doing something more original AND feel ashamed of yourself for being so negative when you have so much to be thankful for.

<buttons lip>

I was just about to put what dan did about the tablets and rotating screens.

I presume you don't have the problem with *my* blog? (being as how I requested that my Dressmaker modelled my variable width on yours)

dg writes: Of the 18 pages I've currently got open in my tabbed browser, yours is one of only three fluid-width pages. Ta.

BTW is it just me who is sick of the "Blogger influx"'s inane comments/adverts, whatever?

dg writes: I've deleted most of the really spammy seriously off-topic ones, honest.

A4-sized screen? Great if all you do is Word and web surfing. Rubbish for anything else. Widescreen is *wonderful* for basic Windows/MacOS tasks, Project, PhotoShop, just about anything that's not pure text where you can relocate toolbars. And then add how useful it is for TV/movies. I think the ultra-portables that are, in fact, only used for text purposes would benefit; but not a general-purpose laptop.

(It'd make the keyboard a bugger to fit in, too)

(another word and I'll shut up about Opera - zoom is on Ctrl-mouse wheel too, and even sites like Troubled Diva succumb. Fixed width authoring? Pah! I say)

I now feel quite glad that I plumped for a combo - flexible width with min and max width.

Those with ginormous wide screens get lots of content with a bit of space down the outside to maintain readability.

Those with wee narrow screens get a reasonable amount of content and a horizontal scrollbar if they ever go below 640px wide (which according to my stats no-one does).

Theoretically, that makes everyone happy.

Practically, probably doesn't, but I'm happy with the compromise.

My I recommend a neat little package called Pivot Pro from Portrait Displays (n spin-off of Radius, a former employer)?

Using this software, you can either:
a) sit your new laptop on its side and view things in A4 layout
-or-
b) use the software to rotate that external 17" LCD you blogged about so that things are laid out correctly.

What? Haven't attached that new LCD to the new laptop yet? It's the same VGA port as you are used to, though I believe that it's white rather than blue on the FS series.

Multiple display life is great!

In the words of the classics, I saw this and thought of you: http://www.networkworld.com/comm...ty/?q=node/
4630


I like fixed width on a big screen. But, I'm a big fan of space in design anyway. Maybe you'll get used to it.

Hmmm, an imposter!
The initials 'BW' are already taken round here

Sorry!



I have widescreen at work on a windows laptop (but a 12" powerbook at home). I agree though - I think widescreeen sucks, but its huge benefit is allowing things to fit whilst still having room for the sidebar version of goole desktop, so news and emails easily viisible, and right now its showing me a mini slideshow off my last set of holiday photographs. I'd recommend it!

Actually, if your old CRT (before the newLCD) was 1024x768, and you new one is 1280x800, then you are seeing the same.

Slightly more in fact.

Ah, but it used to be 1280x1024
And now it's 1280x800
And how I miss that extra 224 depth!











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