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Feature
An Elastic Window
Or, a different way to handle display resolutions
Issue: 5.1 (September/October 2006)
Author: Christian Miller
Article Description: No description available.
Article Length (in bytes): 5,156
Starting Page Number: 34
RBD Number: 5113
Resource File(s): None
Related Web Link(s):
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
http://www.pariahware.com/elasticwindow.php
Known Limitations: None
Excerpt of article text...
As developers, we tend to crave screen real estate. We use large monitors and crank up the display resolution. Sometimes we forget that not everyone has this same craving, or the ability to feed it. Some 2006 statistics from w3schools.com show that 1024x768 is the most popular screen resolution, but 20% of computer users are still using 800x600, while 17% of users have a display size greater than 1024x768. Armed with the above knowledge, what is a GUI designer to do? There are two approaches one can take when designing an interface. Redesign the layout or leave potential users out in the cold. Many people have poor eyesight due to a disability or simply due to aging. Do you want to lose customers because they cannot read the text on your windows?
For example, say your window is designed with a size of 1024x768 but many of your users are using displays set to 800x600. Depending on your application, redesigning its layout can take hours. You'll spend time getting controls as close together as possible. If that alone does not work, perhaps you'll add dialog or sheet windows in order to compensate for the lack of space. I ran into this exact scenario a few years ago. When the company for which I worked started beta testing a product, we had numerous complaints regarding their windows being "chopped off." Which brings us to how the OS handles windows that are too large for the screen.
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Article copyrighted by REALbasic Developer magazine. All rights reserved.
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