Comments on: Why browser zoom shouldn’t kill flexible layouts

By: Die Barrierefreiheit heranzoomen: ein Ausblick | sprungmarker

Die Barrierefreiheit heranzoomen: ein Ausblick | sprungmarker — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:09:12 +0000

[...] [...]

By: Typography Reference Links | kabayview.com

Typography Reference Links | kabayview.com — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:14:09 +0000

[...] Why Browser Zoom Shouldn’t Kill Flexible Layouts – Zoe Mickley Gillenwater [...]

By: kop

kop — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:00:32 +0000

There is someone telling about here : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7403438/how-to-deal-with-zoom-in-responsive-layouts

By: Tipos de layout em CSS - Mais Tutoriais

Tipos de layout em CSS - Mais Tutoriais — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:26:45 +0000

[...] Isto leva-nos à conclusão de que os layouts elásticos ficaram obsoletos e fora de uso. Isto pode não ser inteiramente verdade, de acordo com Zoe Mickley Gillenwater (“Why Browser Zoom Shouldn’t Kill Flexible Layouts”). [...]

By: Some links for light reading (23/6/09) « Max Design

Some links for light reading (23/6/09) « Max Design — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:09:21 +0000

[...] Why browser zoom shouldn’t kill flexible layouts [...]

By: Zoe Gillenwater

Zoe Gillenwater — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:50:35 +0000

These are good concerns unkleE. You're right about elastic designs offering less user control/choice than liquid layouts. That's why I usually go for liquid. The main reason for creating an elastic layout is to set an "optimum" line length. But, there's no line length that's best for everyone--some groups will prefer shorter and some longer. However, I think elastic layouts are still useful; for instance, if you are developing for a set group of people, or if there is not a lot of text to read. The web site for my book, Flexible Web Design, is elastic for this last reason.

By: unkleE

unkleE — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:37:09 +0000

I am a rank amateur with an interest in this topic, and I have found the article and the discussion very helpful. But I have one troubling thought.

Most modern browsers have both text enlarge and page zoom, I think. (Certainly Safari and Firefox do.) These two options allow the user to enlarge text without enlarging the page (but risk strange things happening to the layout) or enlarge the whole page (but risk the dreaded horizontal scroll bar). If I use an elastic design, I cater for those who don’t have a modern browser, but don’t I take away one of those options? For if they set a minimum text size, or use text enlarge, they effectively get page zoom, just as if they’d chosen page zoom in the first place.

Is this correct? If so, elastic design increases the options for those with older browsers but reduces them for those with newer browsers. If not so, can someone please explain why? (This is not an argument but a genuine question.)

Thanks.

By: » The debate over page zooming vs. text scaling - More On Design

» The debate over page zooming vs. text scaling - More On Design — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:14:50 +0000

[...] Zoe Mickley Gillenwater: Why Browser Zoom Shouldn’t Kill Flexible Layouts [...]

By: Stevie D

Stevie D — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:53:25 +0000

The solution for this is not for designers to allow for every eventuality but to make your window wider! YES I SAID IT. Sure the user is in controll but that controll often produces unwanted results.

Nope, that isn’t acceptable.
It is not up to you as a designer to tell me how to set up my computer and browser. I have it configured to the size and setups that I find most comfortable to work with. Your job is to make sure that your website is sufficiently flexible to adapt to a reasonable range of requirements. And a viewport down to 750px wide is definitely “reasonable”. If you aren’t going to make the effort to design a website that I can use comfortably at my default settings then I will use your site as little as I can.

By: Leon

Leon — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:58:33 +0000

This is an interesting article. I used to make all my pages fluid but haven’t done so for a while. I fancy trying it again having seen http://www.webstyleguide.com/index.html, which I just like the look of.

I guess the all dominant grid has partly put pay to fluid designs – we seem to like complete control over layout dimensions, just as we get in print. (I know you could create a grid using % but you still couldn’t absolutely control the column widths. Are there any examples of % grids?)

Having said that, don’t most users surf with their browsers maximised? Which means you’re going to get some rather wide measures. Could do something with max-width, I guess, but then you’re going to get some gaps on wider monitors).

And thanks for the book samples – they’ve given me some ideas to try out.