Learning Dreamweaver - fast track route

[paolo]

Firstly, not many people have wide screens.

I am not far off designing all pages for 1024-pixel width and higher, as the proportion of 800-pixel screens diminishes. This is a breakdown I found which may or may not be accurate, and does not include this year:

2005
Larger..........11%
1024 × 768..........56%
800 × 600..........28%
Smaller/Unknown..........5%

2004
Larger..........10%
1024 × 768..........50%
800 × 600..........35%
Smaller/Unknown..........5%

It is not quite at the point where I would abandon smaller screens. I have incidentally given up on dial-up users for certain (high-end) houses, because I am fed up with spoiling the picture quality and assume the target market has broadband.

If you are au fait with stylesheets, here is a solution whereby the screen fills with content according to the screen resolution being used:
http://www.digital-web.com/articles/pre ... idescreen/

[mpprh]

Hi

here is current info from my last 30,000 visitors :

1024x768 55.55%
1280x800 4.96%
1152x864 3.78%
1680x1050 2.46%
1280x1024 15.16%
800x600 11.51%
1440x900 1.55%
1280x768 1.11%
1400x1050 0.82%
1280x960 0.55%
1600x1200 0.50%
1280x854 0.42%
1920x1200 0.32%
1280x720 0.18%
1344x840 0.14%
1152x870 0.11%
1152x768 0.09%
640x480 0.08%
1120x840 0.06%
1536x960 0.05%
1366x768 0.04%
2560x1024 0.04%
1024x1280 0.03%
1024x640 0.03%
1360x768 0.03%
1440x960 0.03%
1600x1024 0.03%
1024x600 0.02%
1024x711 0.02%
1152x720 0.02%
1152x900 0.02%
2048x768 0.02%
3840x1024 0.02%
960x600 0.02%
960x720 0.02%
1024x720 0.01%
1024x819 0.01%
1200x1600 0.01%
1280x600 0.01%
1280x820 0.01%
1360x1024 0.01%
1600x900 0.01%
240x320 0.01%
2560x1600 0.01%
3072x768 0.01%
5120x1024 0.01%
819x614 0.01%
832x624 0.01%
969x768 0.01%
1024x614 0.00%
1024x721 0.00%
1024x741 0.00%
1024x763 0.00%
1024x820 0.00%
1050x1400 0.00%
1056x792 0.00%
1116x789 0.00%
1152x854 0.00%
1159x725 0.00%
1203x962 0.00%
1280x977 0.00%
1344x1008 0.00%
1360x765 0.00%
1440x852 0.00%
1520x1140 0.00%
1792x1344 0.00%
1800x1350 0.00%
2048x1280 0.00%
2400x600 0.00%
320x240 0.00%
352x416 0.00%
480x640 0.00%
640x400 0.00%
720x576 0.00%
768x1024 0.00%
800x595 0.00%
800x640 0.00%
991x720 0.00%

Peter

[AndyLucia]

If you are au fait with stylesheets, here is a solution whereby the screen fills with content according to the screen resolution being used:
http://www.digital-web.com/articles/pre ... idescreen/

An interesting article, although I have to disagree with his comment about the number of people still using 800 x 600 resolution. Looking at the stats for our sites they pretty much the ones you quote; about 10% for 800 x 600, 45% for 1024 x 768 etc - I deliberately do most of my work on a PC with a 1024 x 768 screen, so the site is pretty much optimised for that resolution.

Dial-up access is running at about 12% so, like you, I've aimed more towards broadband access. The only other factor I am starting to take into account are browsers, as over 15% of our visitors are using Firefox or Opera.

[Ciapolin]

I have incidentally given up on dial-up users for certain (high-end) houses, because I am fed up with spoiling the picture quality and assume the target market has broadband.

If your market is mainly UK and USA that's fine, but here in Italy the coverage is poor (a major bug bear for me and business people I know).

[AndyLucia]

If your market is mainly UK and USA that's fine, but here in Italy the coverage is poor (a major bug bear for me and business people I know).

So are the Italians your target market?

[Ciapolin]

I'll take anyone who will pay! My website is currently geared towards English speakers, but we will be updating it at a later stage to include Italian, French and German.

[Angel]

It's not a question of how wide the screen (monitor) is, it's a question of how wide the browser window is, which is out of your control.

Then you have to consider the "screen real estate", ie how much of a window is actually available to display your page. There's space taken at the top for various toolbars and space taken with scroll bars.

And what about the printability of the page?

My screen is 1280x1024, but I rarely have my browser window maximised. One reason is because it's hard to read long lines of text on the screen. The optimum line length is about 400 pixels, I think. The other reason is because I usually have lots of windows open.

(And yes, I do sometimes use Firefox with its tabs for several browser windows.)

In fact, I have two screens, both at 1280x1024, so in theory I can view a 2560-wide window! I need two screens because of all the open windows which I want to view concurrently.

So I still stick with a maximum page width of 750.

HTH

[AndyLucia]

I'll take anyone who will pay! My website is currently geared towards English speakers, but we will be updating it at a later stage to include Italian, French and German.

So you are like us in many ways. The majority of your customers are likely to be coming from countries with a more 'mature' telecoms infrastructure, i.e. they're not using dial-up. Our website, prior to the recent redesign, was geared totally to dial-up; yes, it loaded quickly but it was rather spartan in design - actually I'm being kind, it was 'orrible, very unattractive. Whatever I design now has to be geared towards our main market sector; that doesn't mean I ignore potential dial-up customers, I do TRY to keep loading times down, but I can't let that 10% dictate the whole look and feel of the site.

[vrooje]

My standard page width is 700, because as others have said, even though more and more people are using at least 1024x768, plenty of people are still using 800x600 (at least according to Google Analytics). My monitors all have at least 1280x1024 and I think my sites look fine on them, even when my browser window isn't maximized.

I've never had a problem fitting everything in a 700-pixel width, and I'm really not sure what I'd do with more!

As for languages, my rule is that I won't advertise in any language I can't speak. My French is fairly broken, as is the French on our site! I'm taking a class this semester, and one of my self-assignments is to translate the webpage into something that makes more sense. I wouldn't want to advertise in, say, Italian, and then, if someone called, only be able to say, "parla inglese?" Or worse, have a problem with the contract etc.

[Rosbif]

Hi well today's the day, I've got a copy of Dreamweaver and no idea where to start even, so I may well be posting lots of questions in the coming weeks/months!!

[enid]

good luck - I used to use Dreamweaver and If I can anyone can

[A-two]

Enid,
Is it just me, or is the weather link from your website going to a private investigation and protection services agency?

[enid]

oo er - thanks for that Joanna - I don't manage it myself since I got my Mac (I am supposed to have finished the content for the new Wordpress one by now) so I'll get my daughter to delete that

[Rosbif]

Well I've managed to do a few pages in Dreamweaver but I'm not really sure how!!! All by luck rather than judgement I think. I chose a pre designed page but I can't seem to change the colour of the buttons for the selection list on the left side if you know what I am talking about!! Can anyone advise how I might do this?? Also I am trying to put a photo gallery on one page but I can only seem to put photos under each other rather than side by side ....

Any advice much appreciated!!

RB

[Rocket Rab]

Any advice much appreciated!!

Well you could always toss Dreamweaver aside and hot-foot it to the HTML tutorials posted on LMH in the threads on creating a website from scratch....that might not be quite the advice you wanted, though

Good luck! Rab