Everybody who designs web sites for fun or profit seems to get hung up on this one little dilemma- what screen resolution do I design for?

Well, you should be concerned with that, but more importantly you should be asking yourself this question- what size is my visitors browser window set at?

Let's face a few facts and misconceptions concerning the viewers of your web site.

1. not everyone uses a 21 inch monitor set at 1600 x 1200 & 80 bazillion colors to surf the net;
2. those that do use those settings seldom surf at full screen size, because
3. most people like to actually have more than one window open at a time, and
4. really, really long strings of text are very difficult to read

Have you ever wondered why newspapers and magazines use narrow columns of text? Well, that's the reason. Short text strings are easier to read and will hold the readers attention better. And, well, let's face it- in an electronic age we all have shorter attention spans.

Okay, but what about the designers wants/needs/wishes? Unlike print media, where you can control placement/color to the pixel, the web is an entirely different animal. In print the designer has total control. On the web the user controls how (s)he sees the info.

The web designer can choose to strictly limit how users view their site. This is certainly their right, after all, they designed it, right? How to do that? Set up your site with a fixed width, using tables or CSS.

The web designer can also choose to influence the viewers choices, while still allowing ultimate control to fall on the users head. To accomplish this the designer has to compromise the design to allow for multiple page widths. This is, ultimately, the most difficult task to face web designers.

Finally, the web designer can present the information in a readable fashion and not worry about how the site "looks". The simplest solution. Provide the information, the hell with the presentation. Is it appropriate? Depends on the info being presented.

Which course you as a designer choose to take depends on many things like:

• your temperment and attitudes about the site
• the purpose of the site
• your expected audience

As more of the world gains access to fast internet connections the temptation to use "whiz-bang" when "geewhiz" works just fine is stronger and stronger. More is more, so to speak. On the other hand, if a fly swatter adequately kills flies, would you instead use a sledgehammer? Solely because it was "cooler"? Can you say "overkill"?

Feel the need to communicate with His Grand & Exalted Bimjoness hisself?? Well, here's where ya do it! Don't be shy. If you have something you'd like to see here, just let me know and I'll see what I can do about getting it on here.