Seeking wisdom on page width/resolution 1

[dreamchaser]

Hi,

I am presently designing my first web site, using DW4, Fireworks 4, and Flash 5, but there is so much that I don't know and soooo much that I have read in the manuals, etc., and have forgotten. Can someone tell me what is the best size to make my page?

Also, is there a behavior in DW that can vary the page size depending on what the resolution of the user's monitor is set at? If so, is there any downside to this?

Any other wisdom would be helpful. I am planning to do most of my design in Fireworks (and add a few Flash elements, perhaps) and import into DW.

Thanks a grillion!

Dreamchaser

 

[Bentley22]

Design for 800X600 resolution. That will reach 95% of web viewers without a problem.

 

[Rhythm]

Um, if I may clarify on the above answer:

You will design for 800x600 but not at that exact resolution...you will need to account for the browser space that it takes up so to be on the safe side we usually design around 720 x 480 so that no matter what clutter the person has in their browser bar or start menu at the bottom, they should be able to see your whole page without scrolling.

Some other general tips:

Don't use alternating font sizes in your menu, stick to one font size (and colour?).

You should never have to scroll to see a full navbar. A navbar should be clean, first to load and easy to follow. Some flash designers go apeshyte with their navs so much that you can't navigate.

Use the OnLoad command to preload your big images before the site is shown. Terrible to see a page load and images slowly appear.

Images should never be more than 72dpi. A general guideline is that images should never be too big unless they are a wallpaper or some other big illustrative graphic. Optimise your graphics correctly so you don't waste space. Flat colour images/logo's use gifs and gradient/photo type images use jpegs.

Flash intro's are cool but ALWAYS have a skip intro button. Have a splash page before your flash intro with a skip intro on it as well. This should be made in html of course with a download flash plugin link on it too. If there is one thing worse than bad html, it's bad flash...if you don't know what you doing with Flash...don't use it! Be hard on yourself, there are too many people thinking because they know how to make a word move across the screen, they know how to use flash! WAKE UP.

Ok, that's about it for now, feel free to ask for more advice, I don't mind helping out.



Rhythm

 

[TJARON]

Hey dreamchaser,
I would design for 800X600 as suggested. You can get away with going a bit wider than 720 pixels if needed. 770 pixels still has no horizontal scrolling in IE or netscape with the windows maximized but it is better to be safe and stay a little lower than that. As for height, I would go less than 480 on the homepage (430 even, if possible) to avoid verticle scrolling if possible. However, if the sight is info heavy, you will pretty much have to have vertical scrolling.

If you have a ton of time on your hands and are very concerned about 1024X1280 you can design a seperate site for and have a Behavior that checks resolution and sends them to the appropriate site. This seems a bit much to me.

One way of making an 800X600 site display better in 1024X1280 is to have a repetitive background image that only repeats to the right. If you don't understand what I am talking about here is an example:

http://www.customartisangroup.com/home.htm

If you view the homepage of this site in either 800X600 or 1024X1280 it looks fine with the help of the repeating background.

As for the Flash, I say go for it. It is your first site and the only way to get better is to keep using the program and creating the animations.
Good Luck,
Tim

 

[dreamchaser]

Hey,

Thanks for all the GREAT info. I have decided to go with 800x600.

Again, thanks for your time and help.



Dreamchaser

 

[Kjonnnn]

I'd use table with a 750 pixel width. That will fill a 800x600 screen size without scroll bars.

If use use 100%, it will fill a users monitor, but your stuff will move around.