New Layout Wiki4D

Stewart Gordon smjg_1998 at yahoo.com
Wed Feb 28 12:23:41 PST 2007


Pragma Wrote:
<snip>
> For general site layout, I agree.  However, for columnar 
> layout of content, fixing the width for content has everything 
> to do with readability for the sighted - I for one have a hard 
> time reading paragraph after paragraph of text laid out at 
> over 1000px wide.  Granted, I could just resize my browser, 
> but the effect is hardly the same.

It also has everything to do with unreadability for the sighted, if they have to keep scrolling their screens in a variety of directions just because the designer's browser dimensions don't match.

> The ideal solution is having paragraphs elements that layout 
> such that they create natural (magazine-style) columns 
> regardless of the dimensions of the page itself.  But I have 
> yet to see that happen without constraining the page width, 
> height or number of columns in some way, without resorting to 
> javascript hacks.  ;)

Some would claim that magazine-style columns don't belong on the WWW, but are just a pointless attempt to mimic printed material.  Someone once said:

http://allmyfaqs.net/faq.pl?Fix_the_wrong_problem
"Trying to force a text-flow from one column to another, when the real problem is creating text interesting enough to induce readers to scroll their displays in a presentation based on methods appropriate to the medium instead of those adopted from print. "

Moreover, to read columns on a web page you would often have to scroll down the column to read it, and then scroll up again to read the next column.

But you have a point.  Maybe there is a way in which such a thing could be reasonably implemented....

Stewart.



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