filling the screen, too good to be true?

[The Dollmaker]

I got bored with the center table that's 760 pixels. I am attracted to sites
that fill the whole screen. So I built one, checked it in Browsershots,
checked it on my own screen at all different resolutions, and I do not get
any sidescrolling. Did I figure it out or is it a fool's paradise?

 

[The Dollmaker]

oops, the link http://micromaine.com

 

[Steve Easton]

You simply set the width of the main container to 100% instead of a fixed size.
Done all the time.

You can however get a scroll bar if you drag one side of the browser window towards the middle,
which I doubt anyone would do.

 

[The Dollmaker]

I put it back because there were too many problems in my html. Are you saying
that if I resize my big table to 100%, people won't be sidescrolling?

 

[Steve Easton]

No, I said you can force a scrollbar by dragging the sides of the browser window in.

One thing to keep in mind with 100% tables, is that the content shifts depending
upon the browser window ( view port ) size.


--

Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
FP Cleaner
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/fpclean.htm
Hit Me FP
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/HitMeFP.htm

 

[The Dollmaker]

Oh, I see. It's on the user's end, for people who don't maximize their
browser window. For a site like http://www.wired.com/ , is that done just by
leaving the base table at 100% ?

 

[Murray]

A 100% width container alone on a page will never generate a horizontal
scrollbar. The problem with a 100% width container , as Steve says, is that
on a wide screen, your text can look very lonely in a vast sea of background
color. Plus, as you resize your browser viewport, your text will reflow
perhaps causing undesirable motion on the page, and worse, even breaking
your layout (depending on the stability of your HTML).

 

[The Dollmaker]

Thank you. I write a lot of my own html so it isn't very stable. I guess I'll
just go with it as is until the technology evolves a little more. I want to
look good on Acer mini laptops and giant TV screens.

 

[Murray]

Good luck. If you write your own HTML and are concerned with your pages
looking good, you'd better learn how to use the validator -
http://validator.w3.org

 

[Rob Giordano [MS MVP]]

and/or install IE Developer Toolbar lets you validate html & CSS without
pushing too many bottons.



--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rob Giordano
Microsoft MVP Expression