One more thing and I will shut up (at least for a while :). There is the concept of "above the fold." Think of a newspaper in a vending machine. When you walk by the machine you may glance at the machine and see the newspaper - but you only see what is above the fold. This might or might not trigger more sales. I would say a web-site is more like a newspaper than a book.
Tables help to get more content above the fold. People can get a quick overview without having to scroll. There are many more problems with people not even knowing they should scroll a page, so the more you can _reasonably_ fit the better. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Koberg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, December 21, 2001 4:45 AM Subject: Re: [OT] Design Rant > > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: "Henning von Bargen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > A HTML page should simply be coded in a linear fashion > > (I read that somewhere in an article about designing web pages for > impaired > > readers), > > I've never heard of the horizontally impaired :) - joking, I understand what > you mean > > It would certainly make life easier to build one column pages :) The last > 'professional' website I made was: > http://teenlearningnetwork.com (very heavy and if your browser has trouble > with tables it will have trouble with this site...) > you would not believe the battles I had to go through to get them to conform > to some _minimum_ usability standards (I failed in many ways...). Both the > designer and executive producer wanted a 'flashy' site to attract the > kiddies. I came in after the site was designed and just applied some > xml/xslt/java goodness to generate the site. I'd like to see somebody layout > that design without tables :) I guess my point is my mortgage in SF is > expensive and I have to pay the bills... > > > > > so that it is usable with screen readers. > > As a rule of thumb, it should be more or less possible to read the html > code > > like a book if you think all the html tags stripped off. > > > but that does not suit everybody's needs. So you feel there should not even > be a side-nav-bar? I work a good deal with designers (well, actually > graphic artists...). Just like when you guys look at a a highly styled page > and feel it is ridiculous, they look at a basic one column layout and cry > "Amatuer!" It has been my experience that the designer is there with the > client way before the developer. So they have early infleunce. And in many > cases the person paying for the site wants something 'that stands out.' > > > > Tables should be used for tabular data only inside the content > > and (as a practical exception) can be used inside toolbars at the top and > > bottom > > which aren't part of the content. > > yes, and personal computers are for spreadsheets -- can you imagine the > security risks if pc's were networked? Curious, why do make just the one > practical exception? > > > > BTW, the text resizing problem you mentioned above is exactly the same > with > > fixed-size tables. > > All that pixel-measuring-stuff should be left to the browsers. > > > > that is not my experience. Absolutely positioned DIVs can (and do if text > is resized) overlap each other. Table cells push each other one way or the > other (or the text wraps). So, yes, it is best to let the browser handle it > (but first give it some idea what to do) > > best, > -Rob > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > In case of troubles, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- In case of troubles, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
