Why is forum optimized for 640x480?

:smiley:

Love this forum! But the width of the table puzzles me, particularly since computer screens tend to be wider than taller…

The column widht of the forum could benefit for a slight expansion, that would make it possible to see a lot more on screen.

Perhaps something to consider to fix after DTP 2.0.

Thanks for great software anyway!

Maybe this thread can help you:

http://www.devon-technologies.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2649&highlight=user+forum

There is a possibility to change the forums look.

Ursula

Please do not change the width!!! There are still a lot of iBook 12’’ Users around who don’t want to be forced to use the browser fullscreen in order to see everthing at once without having to scroll horicontally.

The web site including this forum was designed to fit in a smaller window so that more screen estate is left for other applications and windows. Many Mac users tend to make the browser window smaller, contrary to PC users who use only one application at a time, and this one in full-screen mode.

thanks for replies everyone. its a silly detail.

but perhaps elegantly solved by making the content width dynamic, so it adjusts relative to the browser window , everyone wins and has their preferred width :smiley:

anyway, no big deal, just a suggestion

Eric,

That’s a very interesting piece of information. Despite being a Mac user since pre-internet times, I hadn’t realised that Mac users tended to use browsers that way. But I’d be very grateful to see the survey/research that highlighted that fact. Would you be able to post it (or a link to it) in the forum, please?

IW

superballoon, in your Profile area of the forum page you will find display options for the forum page. I happen to have mine set differently than Eric’s default setting. :slight_smile:

inkwell3, there have been so many mentions of that issue in human interface studies that I can’t think of a single specific one.

But the general premise is that most users don’t like to scan across really wide lines of text. So they set window widths less than screen width to make reading more comfortable. I’ve always done that. Comfort in scanning lines of text is an old story, long before the advent of computers. That’s one of the reasons newspapers use columns of text rather than printing text across the width of a newspaper page. Back when scrolls were the vehicle for presenting text, the convention of “pages” was developed, rather than stretching the width of a line across the entire scroll width.

I work with laptops with 13-inch and 15-inch screens, as well as with a desktop with a 24-inch screen. I find that my browser window settings tend to have about the same number of characters in line widths, and they are all less than the screen width. I can read faster and more comfortably that way (many studies indicate that comprehension is also improved).

You got me going, Bill. Here’s an interesting view on the issue:

justaddwater.dk/2006/08/17/desig … reen-size/

IW

Thanks Bill, the silver option was brilliant, now the forum is “standard internet forum” for me. You can resize the width as you see fit… I had no idea about the option! Thanks!