I've seen *very* few examples in the wild (only one comes to mind, and it's a zen garden entry: http://csszengarden.com/?cssfile=/063/063.css) that allow properly for fonts to be resized, the layout to resize with them and branding not be broken. I'm interested in pursuing this methodology, but have yet to nail it or have time to dig into it in a personal project.
For what it's worth, I'm working on a flexible width CSS-Based template with resizable fonts for an upcoming article that will go live after my personal sites redesign. That's where a lot of my research will come from and it will doubtless work its way into my development process thereafter, as appropriate.
I'd love to see some more examples of sites with complex or at least stringent branding requirements that do have flexible width and font designs... I'm of the mind that it's very difficult to achieve a brand-centric site which has a flexible layout (and you must have this to have flexible font widths).
- Stephen
Cheryl D Wise wrote:
Not all clients are that way and I've been able to educate them. When dealing with a local client I'll hand them my tablet with the page open in IE and say "Can you comfortably read this?" Scalable font sizes become much easier to sell.
When they respond with "well you have a high end system" I point to pages at Dell, HP, etc. that show laptops with the same resolution or the higher 1600x1200 for $1,500. Then point out that it is the sub $1,300 ones that have no option for the higher resolution screens. Which would they rather have for customers?
Ask you clients if they would use the same ad on TV as they would in print.
The web is neither but is closer to TV than print.
Then depending on the client I'll bring I the legal issues. Do they do business with the government? Section 508 Do they sell to educational institutions? Section 504 Then there is the issue of whether or not the ADA applies since Spitzer forced large settlements out of Priceline and Ramada Inns for not complying with the ADA on their websites. Do they want to risk being a test case?
As far as CSS based layout, that's not even a topic of discussion. I just do it. Very few of my clients even care how something is done as long as it meets their requirements.
Though I had a RFP faxed to me yesterday that said in part under Site Specifications - Design in part:
"Pages should weight no more than 75K and the interface should be designed to cache. Website must not require user plug-ins as a default Site must be built in accordance to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1., provided by the w3C and should also be as easily accessible to the novice as well as the experienced internet user"
Site Specifications - Look and Feel: "The site must reflect ... of industry. Enclosed with this RFP is a package of sample marketing literature so the bidder can get a feel for our previous and current marketing collateral."
This RFP is for a very large company with many Fortune 500 clients. They are fussy about branding as well but recognize that the web is not print and the criteria for judging how a website must look is not that it exactly match their print campaign but that it has an overall look and feel that blends and extends their print material.
Frankly, very few of my clients will ever look at their website in anything
other than their default settings so they don't realize what resizing can
do. On the other hand I do have a few who will use their Pocket PC or Palm
based phone to access their site. That makes the case against table based
layouts if they had considered one.<g>
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