screen widths

mrp2049

Senior Member
As we have covered, I am still pretty new too this coding business, I was wondering about screen width.

What is the max width at the moment? Or is there still no such thing really?

I am kinda hoping that their is an absolute/screen covering value in css to assign to the width of a div. Did that make sense?

I am hoping there is, that way I can just have a blanket coverage menu and footer.

Thanks for the help in advance.
 
From what I know (so unless someone corrects me)

There are 3 different types of page
Fluid, fixed and elastic

Fluid pages have percentages applied to all the boxes so that depending on the size of the window the width of the divs will change

Elastic pages use em's to define the widths, this way changing the size of the divs depending on the font size of the browser (for example some people set defaults higher than the standard 16px font size)

Finally there is fixed.

As you could guess this is a fixed layout and hence each div has a defined width.


For many years page sizes focussed on 800px wide maximums (and hence 780(?)px width bodys were used)
More recently a transition was made to 960px width bodys due to most (use google analytics for sites you can to see your own figures) people owning 1024px and bigger.

This would indefinitely increase as more and more people get higher and higher resolutions for pc's and laptops.

But then there was a large boom of netbooks, smart phones, tablet devices and what not and so we are now in a situation where some things are needed smaller and some bigger. I advise going with 960px max width (hence 960 grid etc.) and then looking into secondary stylesheets for phones etc. :)
 
About 20% of the people is still on a 1024px display. Over three quarters have a bigger display.
Source: Browser Display Statistics

I'd say 20% is a market share you can't neglect. But you'll have to analyze your public. If you're making a site or blog for designers it's safe to say that they'll have much larger screens.

Try not to use pure fluid layouts though because they absolute look horrible on larger screens. However, you can add max-widths to your fluid layout in an attempt to satisfy everyone.
 
mrp2049 said:
As we have covered, I am still pretty new too this coding business, I was wondering about screen width.

What is the max width at the moment? Or is there still no such thing really?

I am kinda hoping that their is an absolute/screen covering value in css to assign to the width of a div. Did that make sense?

I am hoping there is, that way I can just have a blanket coverage menu and footer.

Thanks for the help in advance.

960 all the way baby! A bit better than what the standard used to be, blummin 800px! I recently got frustrated with a design that wouldnt work with 960, really wanted to extentd it so i just thought sod it I'll make the site a one-page horizontal jobbie!
 
Harry said:
Use the 960 grid. Sorts screen-size and gives you a grid to work from.

Do frameworks not give you a lot of extra unnecessary code, or is it pointless worrying about that nowadays? I re-use a lot of my own code that I've built up over the years, and If you know how to code a cross browser compliant website already, is it not better to just use your own 'framework' so to speak?

Do you think frameworks are the way forward, and should we all start using them? I'm also very set in my ways of doing things, so would the learning curve be steep? Sorry for bombarding you with questions Mr. Guru, but I'd love to hear your views on this as I'm considering using 960.gs for my next project. :)
 
I have always found frameworks a pain in the arse. I design in Photoshop with a grid and then code w/e I need to code afterwards.
 
I've always made it a rule of thumb to never go beyond 980px width. Unless of course, the design/client requires it otherwise. I've seen some fantastic designs that span width-wise rather than height-wise.

I also take the Photoshop route, it's much easier and plus, you're designing the sites in Photoshop before-hand anyway right?
 
Well there is something to be said for the recent movement for designing in the browser. I have found my ideas aren't as good but doing stuff like padding for a button in photoshop is a pain in the arse, so there is a trade off I guess.
 
Aarlev said:
Do frameworks not give you a lot of extra unnecessary code, or is it pointless worrying about that nowadays? I re-use a lot of my own code that I've built up over the years, and If you know how to code a cross browser compliant website already, is it not better to just use your own 'framework' so to speak?

Do you think frameworks are the way forward, and should we all start using them? I'm also very set in my ways of doing things, so would the learning curve be steep? Sorry for bombarding you with questions Mr. Guru, but I'd love to hear your views on this as I'm considering using 960.gs for my next project. :)

I don't use the frameworks, I use the column sizes though.

I wrote a framework but I'd never use them. A CSS framework can't bring many benefits, as CSS is purely styling. Don't use CSS frameworks (not even mine).
 
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