web design… #3

…can we design for all screens?

this is the future…?

Of course we can design for all screens…

Web designers – like most others, are slightly afraid of the future. Too much unknown territory there. “Everything was better before” (yes, it probably was – for some).

Web designers simplify things (for themselves) by defining what's necessary. A "normal" screen is 800 to 1280px wide, so they start just below 800. "Few" have screens that are wider than 1280px, so they don't test what may happen beyond that. They "know" they can catch up later, so no need to worry about any exceptions to their "rules".

Sorry, but I think it's about time some web designers upgraded their knowledge about hardware and software – the last Ford model "T" has left the assembly-line.

stuck in the past…

Of course we can not design for all browsers.

Some web designers insists on "backward compatibility" to the extent that they drop every solution that doesn't work in software created 3 years ago. Some even think they do their visitors a favour, by not creating any need for software-upgrades at the receiving end.

Web designers ability to stay in control is challenged by new software. Scary stuff like "font-resizing" and "user-control" is taking over, and "print on screens" doesn't work any more. Some are even ignorant enough to think that it ever did.

Web designers waste attention on software and solutions from the past, and make sure the future won't come anytime soon. The future will break their "perfect" designs, so damn the future.

I've got news for you, baby...; if you wanna stay in the past, then you have no future.

Web designers have never had much control over anything on the web. The harder they try to achieve it, the easier it is to break it. Get used to it, or get out of here – you're damaging the world wide web.

the future is now…

This web carpenter also define what's necessary. A screen is 100px to ∞ wide. All these screens can be covered in two basic steps; handheld below 640 in width, and screen above 600 in width. More and more often I throw in mediaqueries and let screen cover the entire range in suitable-sized pieces.

I test across a limited part of this almost unlimited scale; 100px to 3800px screen-width. Very few cases will go outside my test-limits in the foreseeable future (≈ next 3 years).

This web carpenter make use of new methods in the hope that those who approach ∞ screen-width and new hardware also have the intelligense to use proper software. Intelligence doesn't follow size (as we all should know), so that may be a false hope.

This web carpenter said "hallo" to the future yesterday, and is about to explore the possibilities it brings. That's "not necessary" today, but once the past is buried there's no going back—as if I wanted to...

I've never seen a well-designed web page break in a good browser, but I see them change to fit the conditions... all the time. That's the future I'm preparing for—today. More will come—tomorrow.

sincerely georg; sign