On Sat, 19 Oct 2002 14:53:14 +0200 Alexander Skwar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
wrote:

> "Kicker does not fit on a 800x600 screen, which is what most Internet
> users still use these days."
> 
> Most users still use 800x600?  Really?  I'd be interested about the
> resolution the Cooker folks are using.  I'm at 1152x864.  And what does
> it matter, what resolution "Internet users" use?  I mean, Kicker is a
> desktop application, not some html stuff.

I think the author is bringing forth some sort of notion whereby, if you
don't have control over the resolutions users have, you design for a default
resolution. This resolution tends to be ultra-mega-defensive; until about 2
years ago most people I worked with in that situation wanted me to design
for 640x480!

Nowadays I would probably design for 1024x768 (that being the resolution of
most reasonably new laptop screens and a tolerable resolution for 15" CRTs),
have a legible but sub-optimal fallback to 800x600, and not bother about
640x480. (I run at 1280x1024 on a flat panel).

I can't find any particularly modern survey results on all this, but here's
one from 18 months ago:

http://www.nabe.com/wow/pcc0102.htm

And the classic survey which, sadly, appears to no longer be taking place:

http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys/survey-1998-10/graphs/technology/q128.htm

In my experience people don't change resolution because of ignorance or fear
of breaking something. I've been asked to troubleshoot all sorts of users
and configurations and have found them with a shiny new 19" or 21" monitor
running at 800x600 or even standard VGA, showing pixels the size of footballs ...

Alastair


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