Lori Leach wrote:
Apparently then there is nothing that I can do to keep the menu from
breaking when you zoom as I have a fixed width design and not fluid.
I am in a corner of sorts, as this is the layout he wants, refuses fluid, and this is the menu he wants. So I conclude that there is nothing I can do - right?
Lori,
There is a lot you can do-- if you think it's worth the extra work. That's up to you, of course, but it may pay of on a later job.
I've had a look at this one, without really looking into the code / css.
http://www.zenfulcreations.com/sites/sss/index.htm
It is a fine looking page, but it is a bit weak... :-)
Fixed width isn't really a problem-- if the content can use the height for readjustments when we zoom text of force a minimum font size. Containers with no set height, or a min-height / IE/win height-hack set, would take up a lot of adjustment before anything would break or overflow.
We don't use hacks to make web pages work across browserland - we use standard css for standard-compliant browsers. Only old browsers like IE/win is in need of hacks in most layouts. That's why many of us trim IE/win last, when all the standard-compliant browsers presents a web page styled as we like it.
If you use IE/win as design-default, then you should at least test with IE's accessibility-options. IE/win can ignore your font sizes, and a web page should survive that option since it is one of the few options IE/win users have (although few are aware of it). It doesn't have to look perfect though.
The same with the standard-compliant browsers like Opera, FF and Safari. Things will have to move away from pixel-perfection when we use text zoom options, but it's alright as long as the page can take it.
Personally I zoom text on all web pages to at least 200%, and use "minimum font size = 28px" as a sort of benchmark. What font size the page has doesn't matter all that much if it can take this test. Few pages on the web can, and few will need to go this far.
Those two images with text on top, in the right column, can't adjust of course, and because containers have fixed height there, the text will overlap if I change font size too much in a standard compliant browser. IE6 just pushes everything downwards, which at least keeps the text readable. Improvements are possible there.
The footer has a similar, fixed, height-problem if I zoom text. In IE6 the height expands and the background-image repeats, so the text becomes dark on dark background. In the standard-compliant browsers the text overflows downwards. Should also be possible to improve on.
There is a strange thing with the width on that page though, as its visible and centering part is less than 780px wide-- but it creates a scrollbar just below 1000px width. What makes your nav-bar act strange on text zoom is that the nav-bar expands outside the visible page-border, and into this extra space at the right side. If the page's real width was the same as the visible page, then the nav-bar would adjust into two lines-- which it does if I zoom high enough. That doesn't really break the page, and is something that is worth looking into.
Plenty to do-- or ignore. :-)
regards
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