I'd like to update my "old look" themes for the iGoogle "new look", but I've run into a major hurdle.
The basic concept of the full page themes is a single background image with an aspect ratio of 1.6:1. The image is scaled to fit the browser window which means that, depending on the aspect ratio of the browser window, the right hand side or the bottom of the background image is cut off after scaling, unless the aspect ratio of the image is exactly the same as that of the browser window. This approach is fine as a background for the Google Classic search page, where most of the image is visible. But, for iGoogle, most of the image is hidden behind the gadgets. Trying to use any of the featured full page images for the "new look" is very disappointing. While these images are magnificent when viewed in their entirety, they are completely unsuitable for iGoogle with 90% of the area obscured by gadgets. The only readily visible part of the background image is in the "header" area (to use the "old look" terminology). Hence the concept of a scaling, full page background image for iGoogle is basically flawed. Don't get me wrong — I love how the background can be seen behind the gadgets — but using parts of a substantially hidden image as a background doesn't make sense to me. The difficulty is in trying to design a background image for iGoogle which puts the focus of the background into the header area. The "old look" theme header was based on a constant height header and which showed more or less of the centre justified header image depending on the width of the browser window. But to design a full page background image for "new look" iGoogle, keeping the focus in the visible portion (i.e. the header) and avoiding all the boxes and buttons is virtually impossible when the image scales with display sizes. The scaling of the background image to cater for common display sizes ranging from 1024x768 to 1920x1080 results in about a 2:1 variation in the size of the background image relative to the fixed elements in the header area. Even designing the header area of the image for a compromise somewhere in the middle means that for small displays the focus of the image will be partially hidden behind the Google logo and search box, while for large displays it will be partially hidden behind the gadgets. The only way I can see to get around this at the moment is to offer three or four versions of each of my themes, tailored to different size displays, but this is a compromise at best, and is not really suitable for users who view their iGoogle page on various size displays during the course of a day. I guess what I'm asking for is a "no_scale" attribute for full page themes which would allow developers to design a non-scaling background image with header area detail which would always display at the same size and in the same place in relation to the iGoogle page header elements. The full size of the image would be 1920x1200, but the top and left of the image would be fixed, with varying width and depth to suit the display size. In principle, this would be similar to the "header.image_alignment" attribute used in the original "Solar System" theme (which, incidentally, no longer works). Maybe it's a forlorn hope, but is there any possibility of something like this being made available, so developers can make the most of the only part of the iGoogle page where their theme detail is actually visible? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "iGoogle Developer Forum" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/Google-Gadgets-API/-/yJHxBnEVQdUJ. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Gadgets-API?hl=en.
