Recommended web page size

[Ron Duke]

Is the default web page size in Web Designer recommended, or is there a larger size recommended by anyone?

[cursor]

There are three default page sizes, right?

• 640 x 480 VGA
• 760 x 700 SVGA
• 955 x 700 XVGA

Additionally, there is the Custom format, allowing you to specify whatever parameters you like. I prefer this last option.

[Ron Duke]

Thank you very much! Perfect!

[Ken Gaskell]

There are three default page sizes, right?

• 640 x 480 VGA
• 760 x 700 SVGA
• 955 x 700 XVGA

Additionally, there is the Custom format, allowing you to specify whatever parameters you like. I prefer this last option.

I am still struggling with this. I have used the templates from the design gallery but I have been unable to assertain which of the above they are using. If I new what they used, which seem OK, then I would use the same, perhaps tweaking the width a little. So what size is used in the templates in the gallery?

Ken

[Soquili]

Hi Ken,

You can find the page size of a template by opening the Options dialog.

Utilities Menu > Options. Click the Page Size tab.

In the attached image the Fire Storm template is loaded in Web Designer.
The dialog shows a custom size of 770 width x 600 height pixels.

[Ken Gaskell]

Hi Ken,

You can find the page size of a template by opening the Options dialog.

Utilities Menu > Options. Click the Page Size tab.

In the attached image the Fire Storm template is loaded in Web Designer.
The dialog shows a custom size of 770 width x 600 height pixels.

Thanks for that Soquili. I have checked my site and it is the same, 770. As you are such a clever soul, do you know what the safest width is to ensure it fits on all browsers? 770 works, but it might be nice to widen it a little.

Thanks again Soquili, you are brilliant.

Ken;

[Soquili]

Hi Ken,

A width of 960 should work on many viewer's monitors without envoking a horizontal scrollbar.

Of course it also depends on your target audience and their preference for monitor.

The general populace is most likely running at 1024 x 780, a default for many Windows machines sold over the past decade or more.

Wide screen monitors have been popular for a few years now but so are larger 4:3 ratio monitors.

If you are targeting online game players you may want to use a wider page, but check with your web host to see if you can get the statistics for your viewing audience.

[steve.ledger]

4:3 ratio LCD monitors have all but disappeared from IT distros stock lists now. There are still some touch screens using the standard but by far the most common are the HD 16:9 wide screens (1080p).
The first widescreens which were 16:10 (and far better for graphics and DTP production) are still available from a few vendors such as Dell, HP, LG and Philips. They generally use a S-IPS panel which are the best type for graphics but of course are more expensive than the common panel types in most consumer LCD's now. ( LCD Panel Technology)

However, at the end of the day, not everyone uses their browsers at full screen no matter how big their display size is. I know I don't, in fact I hate it.
And I have never been witness to anyone complaining bitterly about a website being too wide to view. As a matter of fact, there a number of web designers who will produce horizontally scrollable websites deliberately (linked example is actually 34773 pixels wide!).

I reckon anywhere between 760 and 1024 is fine, anything can be too wide for some people's setups but if it was the only site on the web they ever viewed, then there might be a case for them changing their screen or habits.
What all this means is there are recommendations and some standards you can choose to follow, but you don't have to if it doesn't suit you

[Technoir Design]

Hi,
I've been having a similar issue but with page height rather than width.

I have a client who does not want vertical scrolling as part of his requirements. That shouldn't be too difficult but the tricky bit is understanding what the minimum available screen height (in 1024x768 res) is available within the browser window itself.

Firefox seems to use a bit more real estate than IE8. I haven't tried Chrome, Safari etc. as yet but I'm sure they're different too.

Has anyone established what the 'cross browser safe height' value is to avoid vertical scolling?

Rgds

TD

[steve.ledger]

I have a client who does not want vertical scrolling as part of his requirements.

Too bad

The whole problem is that no-one can predict how visitors will view your websites.

PC = Personal Computer = Whatever the computer user (in this case, the person visiting the website) prefers

As already mentioned, I never have my browser window at full screen and I'm not the only one either. Many people do but many people do not, it's optional.

Fussing about max width and hieght isn't going to work for everyone no matter what you do.
Sure you can try and find a standard, but like all standards there are so many to choose from

Xara have provided a good selection of web site templates in the Designs Gallery which are 'designed' to be viewable on an average computer in an average web browser.

If the client insists, then you can disable the scrollbar with some CSS in the <head>

<STYLE TYPE="text/css">
<!--
HTML {overflow:hidden}
-->
</STYLE>