Opti-sizing* your Web Page

*Optimizing the size of your webpage

Of the millions who browse the web, there are many tastes, abilities and computer settings. We as web designers are in a position to optimize our sites for any computer setting if we want. But what about optimizing for all computer settings? This discussion is about verifying your pages' design "works" in most any resolution.

Most site visitors view a site in 800 X 600 resolution. However, it would be a mistake to ASSume that all visitors will be viewing in that resolution. Infact, with the sales of new computers with better display adaptors and larger monitors, many users are swwitching to higher resolutions.

I have an image I use on my high resolution background that allows me to judge the appearance of pages in a variety of resolution. First I set this image for my background. I work in very high resolution so the background shows most common resolutions for page viewing.

1. Download this image desktop.gif. (Or transparent version desktoptrans.gif with blacklines or desktoptrans2.gif with white lines)   Right click on the link and save it to your hard drive. Below is an screen shot of this image on a desktop.

2. Set this image as your desktop by right clicking on your desktop and selecting properties.

3. Select the desktop tab.

4. Browse for the file desktop.gif. Select it and click OK.

5. Click APPLY and OK.

6. You may want to set your browser resolution up on the settings tab to view more resolutions. Follow the advice of your video adaptor for resolution restraints.
 

7. Then open the site in a browser and resize the browser window to fit the appropriate dimensions (outside perimeter).  Review your site for publication in different resolutions.