> -----Original Message----- > From: Jochem van Dieten [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2003 8:00 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Quick design question > > Dana Tierney wrote: > >good point; they weren't real prevalent then > > They still aren't, and if they are they are rarely hooked up to the > internet (except for certain areas like university campuses that have > ubiquitous WLAN).
Jochems's right- they are very rare still. However they are getting online more and more. Most models of cell phone do the web "out of the box" and many of the new handhelds have built in 802.11b. (That being said most "web browsing" on handhelds isn't done live in any case: it's done with cached pages using out-of-the-box tools like MS Mobile Favorites, AvantGo and MobiPocket.) 802.11b is taking off here in the states. It's still small comparatively, but most airports, Starbucks and even many McDonald's provide connections. The trick is getting people to subscribe for service, but that gets easier to more widespread it gets. Like I said: another 2-3 years. As an aside, putting on my pundit hat: the "Holy Grail" of portables is the foldable/rollable screen: right now portables a limited in size to somewhat larger than their screen size: you just can't get smaller. However a screen which could "roll-up" might allow a handheld the size of d-cell flashlight to have a 10" screen. However this technology will run much later than WLAN and super cheap handhelds... perhaps 5-10 years at least. So for a while, if things keep going like they are, we'll have very cheap, very capable devices (lots of memory, fast CPUs, etc) with tiny screens coupled with (at least in the urban areas) near universal wireless 'Net connectivity (where this is from 802.11x, cell phone networks or something else I'm not sure). > >Would you be able to allow for this by using > >proportional measures such as width=85%? > > Yes. And less images, more contrast and no popup's and open in new window > links. Yes - right now it's quite difficult to create a single layout that works for all devices (unless you want to go the truly minimalist route) but by leveraging style sheets you can swap out your large, long masthead with a tiny, high contrast one, ensure that your text columns are truly liquid and so forth. Right now most companies providing context are leveraging their existing CMS system to provide the same content in small wrappers. That's a way to go if you're targeting these folks, but to much work (I think) if you're just trying to be courteous. Most sites, with a very small investment in time and work, can use CSS 2.0 to do this. If your design was liquid in the first place (as I think they should be) then it's really just a matter of determine which elements (most graphics) force the display to lengths. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.coolfusion.com Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
