Digital Workshop

I'm working on my first web publication. So far no problems that I am aware of...

I wonder if anyone has experience with choosing the optimum window size for best display in the web browser?

For this project I'm publishing at 800x600 screen resolution, although I normally use 1024x768.

At 800x600 there is too much empty space surrounding the pages displayed in my browser (IE 6.x) for my liking.

After using a tape measure and a calculator I set the window at 1120x660. This better fills the available space in the browser.

Does anyone have any comments on my choice?

Can you suggest better alternatives?

Thanks

http://www.webwizguide.info/web_design/design/page_sizes.asp

This page will give you some good advice on what size to produce your web pages.


In summary though!

"By designing the web page for a live space of 783 x 398 pixels you are guaranteed that the web page is going to be viewed easily by the majority of web users." I corrected the grammar and spelling for them!

Further to Craig's response, you can of course set the publication to stretch and shrink to fit any browser window. To do this, simply open the Chapter Properties at the General tab, then enable both Pages can be resized... settings, leaving the Maximum and Minimum settings unchecked. Also ensure that the Maintain aspect ratio option is disabled, then click Apply and OK.

Now publish your project to a web publication and test. You should find that regardless of the size and orientation of the browser window, the publication automatically stretches and shrinks to fill the available space.

One drawback of this technique is that any bitmap graphics used in your publication (such as JPEG, GIF or PNG images) may start to pixellate if the publication is stretched or shrunk by a large amount. One solution is to use vector images wherever possible as not only are these graphics scalable without distortion, but their much smaller file sizes are more suited for web use. Alternatively, you could set a maximum and minimum size to which the publication can stretch in the Chapter Properties.

Kind regards,

Craig

Thank you for that url. The advice is useful and I commend it to anyone interested in sizing screens.

Robin

I was concerned about the distortion of some graphic formats which is why I opted for a fixed larger format. I will re-set the size to match your suggestion, and compare graphic quality.

Thanks