Minimum view area?

Discussion in 'Web Design and Development' started by lucidmedia, Mar 12, 2009.

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  1. lucidmedia, Mar 12, 2009

    lucidmedia macrumors 6502a

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    #1
    Currently planning a site that will have elements of fluid layout, but will have a "core" that -- sadly -- must stay fixed. Of course, I don't want users to have to scroll to see it.

    On "todays internet" what is your opinion on the smallest viewport that you care about? 955 x 600? 1000 x 800? smaller? larger?

    The site is is for a museum exhibition, and targeted at a youngish-to-middle-age, educated, somewhat-affluent audience who are looking for a visual experience -- so bigger is better, but I want to find a balance between best experience and most average supported users.
     
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  2. angelwatt, Mar 12, 2009

    angelwatt Moderator emeritus

    angelwatt

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    #2
    Stats like this one can provide a glimpse at what people are setup with. Not stats are absolute of course though so just use them as a piece of information, not a fact.

    As far as opinions though it kind of depends on the layout too and if there are sidebars. Generally speaking, a line of text is best between 32 and 45 em (approximately 45-76 characters per line).
     
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  3. lucidmedia, Mar 12, 2009

    lucidmedia thread starter macrumors 6502a

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    #3
    thanks angelwatt!

    the browser statistics are useful. I wish they were tracking larger resolutions however, as I am trying to figure out how much larger than 955 x 600 I can safely go -- particularly in the vertical direction.

    The "site" is actually a AS3 app written in Flex4, so I can do a good deal of dynamic positioning of elements like sidebars and the such algorithmically, but I want to make sure that that core imagebrowser takes up most of the "safe zone".
     
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  4. s.r., Mar 12, 2009

    s.r. macrumors newbie

    s.r.

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    #4
    The Minimum view area by height is different in all the browsers
    By width IMHO it's still 1000px(after ScrollBar) for 1024x768px, less it's already very rarely

    Display Resolution Statistics

    IMHO the problem here is that any common user uses the different toolbars and OS taskbars, which is always reduces the view area by height, and these measures are can be variable
    if we are going to build on standard browser settings, take a look and compare Browser View Area in the attached image for the 1024x768px resolution

    Browser Statistics
    For your self investigation you can use a ff useful plugin Firesize


    How you are able to calculate your best height further, it is up to you
    You can use Golden ratio division 1000/1.6= 625
    Or you are going from minimum measure 576px

    Good luck, hope my explanation and image are helpful
    Alex
     

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  5. lucidmedia, Mar 12, 2009

    lucidmedia thread starter macrumors 6502a

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    #5
    Thanks S.R... I appreciate your comments...

    So, the big question is: what is the percentage of users running monitors with resolutions higher than 1024 x 768?

    I suppose I am really just pulling hairs over less than 50 vertical pixels...
     
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