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Sid The Kid

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Original poster
Jul 10, 2017
91
4
Hello,

I would like to know how do websites look like when they load? I read that people with 27" iMac only see the page in the middle with white stuff on the sides. Happens in full screen?

Is it possible to change how will it show?

Can you please go on cnn.com nhl.com or whatever popular websites you know and post some screenshots?

Thank you
 
There are white borders, but you can zoom in. So no problem.
If you have a Mac, you can use the "responsive" feature of Safaris developer settings set on 2560x1440 resolution to imitate page behaviour of iMac 27".
 
Wait what? People browse the web in full screen at 27"? I have Safari, Twitter, Telegram and Kodi open in one screen and there's even room to zoom in on a web page.
 
Wait what? People browse the web in full screen at 27"? I have Safari, Twitter, Telegram and Kodi open in one screen and there's even room to zoom in on a web page.
Yes, I do. It's easier for me, because this way I can focus on one task only. Additionally the other programs I use are a lot more usable in fullscreen (for example Photoshop, Indesign etc).
 
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It doesn't happen on the 21.5" 4K iMac right?

And we need to zoom every time?

There is a permanent zoom, when you use "cmd" and "+" buttons, then there is another zoom via pinch to zoom on the trackpad which goes much further but just temporarily.
I don't know which resolution the iMac 21" uses as Viewpoint in Safari.

Keep in mind that there are a lot browsers for mac. I can only tell my experience with Safari.
 
There is a permanent zoom, when you use "cmd" and "+" buttons, then there is another zoom via pinch to zoom on the trackpad which goes much further but just temporarily.
I don't know which resolution the iMac 21" uses as Viewpoint in Safari.

Keep in mind that there are a lot browsers for mac. I can only tell my experience with Safari.

And it can be done by just increasing the page size on the sides with the mouse (width and length)? Like resize the window without or hiding the Dock.
 
It's how you spot the ex/current Windows users. ;)

Hahaha yes! Windows-based computers rarely have those white borders (I don't know about 27" inch Windows all-in-one). Like just full screen and you still see everything and no little website stuff in the middle of the webpage. (If I remember correctly.)

I tried CNN.com on 21.5" iMac and there weren't any white borders (if I remember correctly.)
 
Wait what? People browse the web in full screen at 27"? I have Safari, Twitter, Telegram and Kodi open in one screen and there's even room to zoom in on a web page.
Right! I have Chrome opened up on the left half of the display, terminal and Atom opened up on the other half.
 
Hahaha yes! Windows-based computers rarely have those white borders (I don't know about 27" inch Windows all-in-one). Like just full screen and you still see everything and no little website stuff in the middle of the webpage. (If I remember correctly.)

I tried CNN.com on 21.5" iMac and there weren't any white borders (if I remember correctly.)

Haha =P

You can fight the system full screen it and use zoom and whatever. But it's really just trying to tell you to use it as intended. Little windows into content. Many many many.

Alt tab and alt ` ur way through the 100s of windows. That's the macintosh way :)
 
The "white borders" have nothing to do with it being a 27" iMac or Safari. It's simply depends on how each individual website is designed. Some of them have max widths for content for readability reasons. If your browser window expands beyond the max width, there will naturally be space on each side.
 
If you want the technical answer. Websites will tell the browser how wide it wants to be via CSS.

Responsive websites will have diff widths depending on size of screen viewing it. A lot of them max out at say 800pixels or points because they don't expect users to have such giant screens. And even then they don't expect users to have the window maxed to the giant screen.

Hence you have the white space. The browser is simply respecting the website author.

If you want to test this out. Go to a modern website and resize the window. And watch the web page contents change itself. You will see at some point it stops getting wider. That's the maximum width of the website as designed.

Not many website are designed to be viewed on such a large wide screen. I.E. nobody wants to view 30 words across. And every browser has zoom functions. So as a web designer why bother designing an experience for like 0.00001% of ppl. (Of course there are exceptions).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsive_web_design
 
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And you guys like to have multiple pages and apps opened even if it's little?

Just sizing the page with the mouse and make it bigger but not full screen is also great.

On Windows, it looks weird and useless to have a small window opened. It's almost always full screen and the Start Menu and other options still appear.
 
If you want the technical answer. Websites will tell the browser how wide it wants to be via CSS.

Responsive websites will have diff widths depending on size of screen viewing it. A lot of them max out at say 800pixels or points because they don't expect users to have such giant screens. And even then they don't expect users to have the window maxed to the giant screen.

Hence you have the white space. The browser is simply respecting the website author.

If you want to test this out. Go to a modern website and resize the window. And watch the web page contents change itself. You will see at some point it stops getting wider. That's the maximum width of the website as designed.

Not many website are designed to be viewed on such a large wide screen. I.E. nobody wants to view 30 words across. And every browser has zoom functions. So as a web designer why bother designing an experience for like 0.00001% of ppl. (Of course there are exceptions).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsive_web_design

Thats what came to my mind too. As a graphic designer I have designed some websites already and I think it depends on the website. You can code how big the white borders should be by defining the size of your website.
A width of 960px is very common and the imac 27" uses 1440px I think.


But there a barely no websites that are optimized for that large screens like the imac 27".
 
Thats what came to my mind too. As a graphic designer I have designed some websites already and I think it depends on the website. You can code how big the white borders should be by defining the size of your website.
A width of 960px is very common and the imac 27" uses 1440px I think.


But there a barely no websites that are optimized for that large screens like the imac 27".

And it shouldn't be a reason to ditch the interest of buying a 5K iMac right?
 
I'd show you, but, I'm running into security errors.

I don't use full screen mode. Maybe for viewing streaming stuff, but, my preferred scheme is a lot of little windows, with many tabs.
 
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Some websites will expand to fill the space, as I have this forum set to do. Others are at a fixed max width, and will have empty space on the sides.

As someone who has used a 27" screen for three years now, it's not really something I even notice anymore. Do wish that more websites would expand to fill the space, though, especially since 27-inch and bigger screens have been around for over a decade. Web developers are more concerned with making things fit on laptops and smartphones, it seems.
 
Of course not! I didn't even know that some people are upset by these white spaces. But to each his own. ;)

Well probably will get used to it. Like when you scroll and only the middle of the webpage moves and it's so small. Not like the entire page moving up and down but the middle. It's like watching a tennis match.
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Some websites will expand to fill the space, as I have this forum set to do. Others are at a fixed max width, and will have empty space on the sides.

As someone who has used a 27" screen for three years now, it's not really something I even notice anymore. Do wish that more websites would expand to fill the space, though, especially since 27-inch and bigger screens have been around for over a decade. Web developers are more concerned with making things fit on laptops and smartphones, it seems.

True and agreed. And also for smaller computer monitors and all-in-one.
 
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