| LED Digest 2684: Design Trends |
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The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom http://www.AudetteMedia.com : the LED's Publisher The Internet Marketing Boutique: SEO, SEM, Social Media http://www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. July 23, 2008 Issue no. 2684 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Design Resolution & Sizing ==-- ~ Mark Knowles "The one constant in this area is the trend, the lower resolutions are on their way out." ~ Scott Wang "I stopped designing for 800x600 about 6 months ago." ~ Reid Neubert "I suggest viewing those statistics...with caution." --== White or Dark Backgrounds? ==-- ~ Tom Aman "...legibility is somewhat dependant on a surfer's monitor settings..." ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Mark Knowles Subject: Resolution > We've always designed for the 800 x 600 > resolution but are seriously considering > opting for 1024 x 768 instead for all > future client sites and having the annoying > scrollbar for those with the 800 x 600. > > The trend sure seems to be more and more > people these days are using a higher > resolution, with 45% using 1024 x 768 and a > low 7% using 800 x 600. - Robert Joy, LED 2683 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/2098/190/ As the color television grew in popularity, how long did it take for the majority of advertisers to invest the extra expense and start shooting their spots in color? (Oh wait, that wasn't the question...) (...or was it?) The one constant in this area is the trend, the lower resolutions are on their way out. We treat browser version support similarly. As the population for a fading standard decreases, and the timing for a switch approaches, we begin sharing these statistics with our clients so, they can understand the implications of the decision. The higher resolution buys more "real estate" on the site, for most of our clients, that's compelling. The trade off is real estate and design options in exchange for reducing the user experience or alienating a certain amount of site traffic. We don't have a hard and fast rule that states we won't do an 800 X 600 site, but our decision to support 1024 X 768 by default was made about a year ago. As far as I know, this hasn't happened yet but, in today's market, if a client didn't need the real estate for some reason (think about a simple straight forward offering here) and requested an 800 X 600 resolution on their design, we would oblige them. Mark Knowles President Smart Solutions www.smartz.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Scott Thorp Subject: Resolution I stopped designing for 800x600 about 6 months ago. Only 4-5% of our visitors were will using 800x600, and it can't be too much longer before they get a new computer or monitor. It has to break down sometime soon. I am sure they are getting used to scrolling by now, and if you design for 1024x768 they actually won't have to scroll very much - they'll probably just be missing your margins/borders or part of the cosmetic design of the site. Your actual text content should be slimmer to make it ergonomic for reading anyway. I would refrain from putting the navigation menu on the far right side - that could get especially annoying for them. Scott Wang Thorp Web -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Reid Neubert Subject: Resolution Things do seem to be evolving in the direction of 1024 x 768, don't they? I remember when we designed sites for 640 x 480! When we jumped to 800 x 600, that gave us so much more real estate to work with. Then there are people like me who have their monitors running at 1024 x 768, but don't like having the browser maximized. So, sites designed for 800 pixels wide are my own preference. Then again, the good news about not having my browser maximized is that often that annoying crap on the right side of the page is off the screen for me! I suggest viewing those statistics about the percentage of people using different resolutions with caution. It has been my experience that those numbers are typically from sites that more advanced computer users use. There are still lots of folks with older computers running at 800 x 600. My advice is to consider your audience. If your site is primarily for the younger, laptop-wielding set, by all means go wide. The same if you are appealing to road warriors, techies, the affluent, business users who work for larger companies, etc. If your site is for a more general audience or people working in smaller businesses, more of them are likely to still be browsing with older equipment. Did you know, there are still people who don't realize you can scroll horizontally? It's true. Best regards, Reid Neubert www.neubertweb.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Tom Aman Subject: Backgrounds > I re-designed 64picks.com site back in > April and it now has a black background. > However, 12% of visitors have complained > that it is a strain on their eyes to go > back to sites that have a white background > (the majority of sites). - David Chapman, LED 2680 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/2095/190/ O.K., now I can get to the site (in my last post, I pointed out a problem I encountered) and was pleasantly surprised. I expected the black background to be a problem (I wear glasses and my eyes are not as young as they used to be) but find the grey text on the black was quite readable. HOWEVER, I expect the legibility is somewhat dependant on a surfer's monitor settings - both brightness and contrast - and may also be affected by the age of the monitor since, and this may be part of the problem for visitors who then go back to sites that have a white background. One thing I did find, however, is that no matter what size I ran my browser window (both IE and Firefox), the screen was always a bit too wide and gave me a horizontal scroll bar. Obviously, something in width specs adds up to more than 100% Tom Aman (c) Copyright 1995-2008 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "From quiet homes and first beginning, Out to the undiscovered ends, There's nothing worth the wear of winning, But laughter and the love of friends." - Hilaire Belloc |
