Comments on: Size matters…but it’s what you do with it that counts http://www.iheni.com/size-matters/ Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:38:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: yiannis http://www.iheni.com/size-matters/comment-page-1/#comment-3821 yiannis Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:25:37 +0000 http://www.iheni.com/?p=740#comment-3821 Well I just zoomed in your website with Firefox and Opera. Both browsers treat the fixed layout just like it was elastic (the width forced to be wider and text was bigger of course). That doesn't happen in e.g. Safari. Safari just makes the text bigger, which is normal since the layout is fixed. The thing is images became bigger as well each time I press Ctrl+. This doesn't happen in real elastic layouts unless the designer has taken care of. Opera made the images look ugly. Especially the tiny ones e.g. your RSS feed icon. No designer wants this. Firefox treated the images differently. It made them bigger and more and more blurry. This is the first time I see Firefox blurs images but I prefer it this way instead of the Opera's way. All in all as I designer I feel the browser decides for me and this confuses me. Well I just zoomed in your website with Firefox and Opera.
Both browsers treat the fixed layout just like it was elastic (the width forced to be wider and text was bigger of course). That doesn’t happen in e.g. Safari. Safari just makes the text bigger, which is normal since the layout is fixed.
The thing is images became bigger as well each time I press Ctrl+. This doesn’t happen in real elastic layouts unless the designer has taken care of.
Opera made the images look ugly. Especially the tiny ones e.g. your RSS feed icon. No designer wants this.
Firefox treated the images differently. It made them bigger and more and more blurry. This is the first time I see Firefox blurs images but I prefer it this way instead of the Opera’s way.

All in all as I designer I feel the browser decides for me and this confuses me.

]]> By: iheni http://www.iheni.com/size-matters/comment-page-1/#comment-3820 iheni Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:24:40 +0000 http://www.iheni.com/?p=740#comment-3820 Chris, great stuff and thanks for the link, love it. Chris, great stuff and thanks for the link, love it.

]]> By: chris http://www.iheni.com/size-matters/comment-page-1/#comment-3819 chris Fri, 23 Jan 2009 09:46:17 +0000 http://www.iheni.com/?p=740#comment-3819 Hey Henni, I have not had time to flesh this out (so I expect there to be some pretty obvious flaws and typos, so you'll have to stick with me :S ) When looking at scaling it’s probably a good idea to take inspiration from existing document technologies. Acrobat Reader for example offers an excellent set of page scaling tools which would work well in the context of a web document. If something like this existed in the top bar of a browser it may add a lot of value to the user in a format they would already have some experience with. I’m sure there are better examples, but I love the quick fit to page buttons on the Reader interface. As for the UI of such elements, the way Opera and IE7 handle zooming from a tool in the lower right of the browser chrome is a bit counter intuitive as I assume most users will look for tools at the top of the application. If the user could then customise the browser UI from the installer they could then make the choice of adding/removing assistive features to the primary navigation (much like the way that Photoshop allows you to change the panel layout based on your primary tasks). In terms of the actual zoom functions I prefer text and image zooming over full magnification as I tend to build scaling sites. This allows me to build containers which grow and shrink in a manner I can predict and ensure that the design remains easily navigatable without worrying about broken layouts and scrolling issues. However, I don't thing I’m in the majority and probably not best placed to comment, but, i perfer the way Opera and Firefox scale over the IE7 full zoom. Chris. It’s a complete aside but this presentation is a great example of how one generic product doesn’t always suit all people from Malcolm Gladwell http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce.html Hey Henni,

I have not had time to flesh this out (so I expect there to be some pretty obvious flaws and typos, so you’ll have to stick with me :S ) When looking at scaling it’s probably a good idea to take inspiration from existing document technologies. Acrobat Reader for example offers an excellent set of page scaling tools which would work well in the context of a web document. If something like this existed in the top bar of a browser it may add a lot of value to the user in a format they would already have some experience with. I’m sure there are better examples, but I love the quick fit to page buttons on the Reader interface.

As for the UI of such elements, the way Opera and IE7 handle zooming from a tool in the lower right of the browser chrome is a bit counter intuitive as I assume most users will look for tools at the top of the application. If the user could then customise the browser UI from the installer they could then make the choice of adding/removing assistive features to the primary navigation (much like the way that Photoshop allows you to change the panel layout based on your primary tasks).

In terms of the actual zoom functions I prefer text and image zooming over full magnification as I tend to build scaling sites. This allows me to build containers which grow and shrink in a manner I can predict and ensure that the design remains easily navigatable without worrying about broken layouts and scrolling issues. However, I don’t thing I’m in the majority and probably not best placed to comment, but, i perfer the way Opera and Firefox scale over the IE7 full zoom.

Chris.

It’s a complete aside but this presentation is a great example of how one generic product doesn’t always suit all people from Malcolm Gladwell http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce.html

]]> By: iheni http://www.iheni.com/size-matters/comment-page-1/#comment-3818 iheni Fri, 23 Jan 2009 09:25:50 +0000 http://www.iheni.com/?p=740#comment-3818 Yiannis, great feedback thanks. You mention "Firefox & opera use full page zooming. I haven’t detected any usability issues, but I don’t like the way images are resized", could you tell me more about that? Steve, I like your question about how it works with platform and AT zoom, will have a look into that. Yiannis, great feedback thanks. You mention “Firefox & opera use full page zooming. I haven’t detected any usability issues, but I don’t like the way images are resized”, could you tell me more about that?

Steve, I like your question about how it works with platform and AT zoom, will have a look into that.

]]> By: Steve Lee http://www.iheni.com/size-matters/comment-page-1/#comment-3817 Steve Lee Fri, 23 Jan 2009 09:18:11 +0000 http://www.iheni.com/?p=740#comment-3817 Makes sense as zooming is difficult to get right so has a good experience. I tried using on my Nokia N810 but got completely fed up with all the scrolling. Reflow seems the most likely answer and page zoom not so good then. Another question is how will it play with the platform zoom or AT zoom if being used as well. At least until the web becomes the only platform that matters ;-) Makes sense as zooming is difficult to get right so has a good experience. I tried using on my Nokia N810 but got completely fed up with all the scrolling. Reflow seems the most likely answer and page zoom not so good then.

Another question is how will it play with the platform zoom or AT zoom if being used as well. At least until the web becomes the only platform that matters ;-)

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