Comments on: A browser which makes use of a high-resolution screen?

Question: A browser which makes use of a high-resolution screen?

tabulem — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 18:27:08 -0800

Is there any browser which can be configured to make use of the full width of my 1400x1500 monitor in displaying websites? Most commercial sites seem to be optimized for 1024x768, and they just leave acres of blank space in the right third of my screen.

Increasing the font size with either Firefox or IE is not much help because on most sites it doesn't change the column width. My screen is only 14", so if I make the text large enough to read, it looks ridiculous crammed into these tiny columns.

It really annoys me that web designers seem to have decided to ignore the original basic principle of HTML, i.e. how things are displayed should be up to the user, and flexible. Hardcoding the size of any element in pixels used to be a big no-no.

But anyway, is there any solution?

By: tabulem

tabulem — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 18:28:59 -0800

PS Ask mefi is a pretty reasonable site: it uses the whole screen and if I just increase the text size, I can make it big enough to read without messing up the whole interface.

But look at, for example, cnn.com on a monitor larger than 1024x768 and you'll see what I mean. Sites that fail are more common than sites that work.

By: DoctorFedora

DoctorFedora — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 18:45:12 -0800

I'd suggest using Opera and just magnifying the page. It's usually pretty effective for me when I need to do such a thing.

By: spaceman_spiff

spaceman_spiff — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 18:53:55 -0800

This is something that makes more sense if you use a Mac; it's kind of the default behavior. But don't use the screen for just one window - put your browser in one spot, IM next to it, text editor next to that, and so on and so forth (depending on what programs you use).

By: spaceman_spiff

spaceman_spiff — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 18:54:46 -0800

Y'know, ignore me. I didn't read the whole comment. Sorry. Can I ask why your resolution is that high?

By: alexei

alexei — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 18:59:53 -0800

Seconding Opera-- its magnification feature will increase the size of columns along with the text. Also, I doubt your monitor is 1400x1500-- possibly 1400x1050?

By: datacenter refugee

datacenter refugee — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 19:00:33 -0800

Using a widescreen LCD at anything less than it's native resolution looks craptacular. I just bought a second-hand 2405fpw - anything but 1900x1200 looks horrible.

By: datacenter refugee

datacenter refugee — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 19:01:28 -0800

(that last comment was aimed at spaceman_spiff) - shoulda included that . . .

By: tabulem

tabulem — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 19:01:43 -0800

DoctorFedora, thanks for the answer. That's exactly what I was looking for. With Opera and 150% zoom, my whole screen is utilized, and I can read the text.

spacemann_spiff, thanks too. Yes, I thought about using the extra space for other things, but I'm a PC user so accustomed to using the whole screen most of the time. To answer your question, it's a ThinkPad laptop, 14", 1400x1050. It looks nice, but it turns out be overkill. My previous laptop was a 1024x768 and that was actually more convenient on the whole.

By: tabulem

tabulem — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 19:03:30 -0800

Yes, sorry, 1400x1050, my typo. And yes, changing the monitor resolution is not a solution, makes everything look blurry.

By: bigmusic

bigmusic — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 19:45:04 -0800

Once you figure out which zoom works best for you - customize the keyboard shortcuts under Tools | Preferences | Advanced TAB | Shortcuts | Keyboard setup.

A more detailed how to is here.

By: WCityMike

WCityMike — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 19:48:20 -0800

Not precisely what you're looking for, but perhaps NoSquint?

By: knave

knave — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 19:59:52 -0800

It really annoys me that web designers seem to have decided to ignore the original basic principle of HTML, i.e. how things are displayed should be up to the user, and flexible. Hardcoding the size of any element in pixels used to be a big no-no.

First of all, the modern xhtml+css mentality is to separate form from content. Not to give users complete control over form. Secondly, having text span from left to right across a huge monitor (like Metafilter does) is fairly awful from a reading perspective. This is the reason newspapers are printed in narrow columns. Much much easier to read.

By: anildash

anildash — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 21:08:08 -0800

IE7 has a similar zoom feature built in, and there's a Firefox extension to enable that type of zooming, I believe.

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 08:14:37 -0800

Could I ask what you'd like web developers to do instead of specify attribute dimensions in pixels? It may not be the most flexible thing, but what's the alternative? I already specify all my text sizing in EMs, so user's browsers control the relative text size, but if I have to match a column to the size of a logo, or create a box with rounded corners, what choice is there but to size in pixels?

Until web developers can use vector graphics natively in browsers, there's little choice but to use pixels.

I'm open to suggestions - though, if there's a better way.

By: tabulem

tabulem — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 09:22:23 -0800

Thanks for the further comments. I'm not an expert on web design; I was on top of it maybe seven years ago, but things have come a long way since then.

To answer your question odinsdream, my suggestions would be (1) don't match a column to the size of a logo; have it match at 1024x768 (the most common resolution) and determine column width based on window size, so the logo will just look a bit too small at higher resolutions; (2) specify the rounded corners in pixels for 1024x768, and accept that users at different resolutions won't see quite what you intended.

I think the basic point is that "something's gotta give". I would rather that be aesthetics than useability.

Anyway, I'm now using Opera with 150% zoom, and I'm happy with the results so far.

Thanks again for all the helpful information.

By: Deathalicious

Deathalicious — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 14:24:38 -0800

I think the basic point is that "something's gotta give". I would rather that be aesthetics than useability.

Ooh! Ooh! I know someone who's never had to develop a website for a client!! :-)

Seriously, I don't know who these lucky bastards are who manage to convince their clients that low-graphics, useable websites are the way to go, but no matter how clearly or vehemently I express it, every client I've had wants their logos larger, the websites constrained to a specific size, and would rather a website looks good to them than have the website look okay for everybody.

By: Tixylix

Tixylix — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 15:39:27 -0800

I believe CTRL + mousewheel is the shortcut to the zoom function in Opera.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 07:33:26 -0800

I second that the "solution" is to stop using maximized windows. Make them 800 pixels wide and now you can fit two pages on the screen at a time. Or keep your MP3 player or IM client visible, etc.

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:41:56 -0800

Deathalicious; I'm sure most web developers see where tabelum is coming from; we're just more acutely aware of the reality of current web design limitations. Limitations like raster graphics, for example.

There is no solution to pixel-based design limitations, because there is no standard way to include vector graphics in a website.

Opera's Zoom feature is nice and all, but I bet rounded corners on CSS boxes start to look more and more like the little staircases of pixels that they actually are. In a vector-based web, this wouldn't need to happen - opera could truly resize the graphics and the page losslessly.

Unfortunately, reality isn't there yet.