Layout appears different between screens

  • Thread starter Thread starter Roger B
  • Start date Start date
R

Roger B

Hi, I am very much a novice with FP, but seem to be sucessfully designing my
site. The problem is I am designing it on my desktop (normal 4:3 'square'
screen) and will eventually be using it on a NetBook (wide screen). When I
'Preview in Browser' on the desktop it is OK, but if I do the same thing on
the NetBook it is all over the place. Do I need to set something up to stop
this happening? I have not published the site yet it is still in development.

Additional question: my netbook runs an Intel Atom Processor will
FrontPage work OK with this, as I am having problems loading it.
 
Taking your second question first, FrontPage should run without problems on
an Atom powered net book, provided there is sufficient RAM for all running
applications (512MB is usually sufficient if Photoshop is not running), and
the Operating System is Windows XP or later.

As far as page layout is concerned, you have to choose between fixed width
or floating layout.
Fixed width means placing all content inside a container (<div> or <table>)
with a fixed width - I use 760px to suit a browser portal of 800px width.
With a fixed width layout the page looks the same at all browser widths.
Wide browser portals give a lot of blank space, narrow browsers force
horizontal scrollbars.
Floating layouts mean the content will adjust to fill the browser width.
This also means the page layout may change as the content adjusts.

Remember, the screen size and resolution are not the relevant factors.
What is relevant is how wide the browser portal is. Wide screen users,
including desktop users with wide screen or "conventional" monitors, may
only open their browsers in a small window, so other applications can be
used at the same time. And those users with high resolution screens and/or
poor eyesight may also be using large fonts so text is readable. It is
best practice to test your pages in various browser sizes, and also use
View->Text Size to see how changing the text size affects the page. Also
test in Firefox as well as IE.
 
Hi Roger
Most sites use a fixed width div or table to hold everything in place. the
width of the table depends on you audience if the audience is of people who
use there monitors at a large setting say 600 by 800 px then you should
design your site to accomodate for them. Lots of sites now seem to be
designing for larger screen resolutions. I generally like to have a webpage
at 930 to 960 px wide. People will generally be happy to scroll verically
but not so happy to scroll horizontally.
The expand the page to fit the width of the screen is also used but as you
have discovered it can be a problem for your page layout.
Best wishes
Paul m
 
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