[WEB4LIB] Pixel sizes for web pages

[Sandra Lamar]

At New England School of Law I design for 800X600, and all the machines I
can influence are set to that resolution.  One major reason I decided this
was indeed the "new standard" was that the major legal research vendors,
Lexis and Westlaw, seem to require it for their software and their web
sites.  I have at least one professor who will not have it changed because
she feels the type then becomes unreadable. 

So, the question I would like to append to this discussion is this -- is
there any way to keep the fonts on the desktop and word processing
programs large, and still have the 800 x 600 resolution?

Sandy Lamar
http://www.nesl.edu

On Wed, 18 Aug 1999, Barbara Brattin wrote:

> We have an escalating argument within our home page committee which will 
> only be resolved by gathering learned opinions. Therefore, I come to you 
> for learned opinions. We are developing a new and improved web site as a 
> team. Some team members believe very strongly that the pages should be 
> created to be viewed within the 800x600 pixel setting. Their argument is, 
> the higher resolution is becoming a standard for commercial sites. Along 
> with this argument, they request that all monitors within the library be 
> set to this resolution. Frankly, I find this resolution to be bordering on 
> hard to read, and I have 20/20 vision. The other side says, there are few 
> times when we encounter a web page where we have to scroll right to left to 
> see the contents (Infotrac is the main offender)  and seeing that we are 
> concerned with visually challenged patron access, why would we reduce the 
> font size for the few times that we need to adjust? They claim that 800x600 
> is not the new standard, and that 640x480 is where we should be.  I'm 
> interested in hearing from all you webmasters- what size pixel are you 
> designing your pages for? Why? Does anyone really know what the new 
> standard is? Thanks for your help!
> 
> 

Sandra J. Lamar
Computer Services Reference Librarian
New England School of Law, 
154 Stuart St.
Boston MA 02116
slamar at nesl.edu
617-422-7299