[WEB4LIB] Re: sizing width of scroll windows

[Thomas Dowling]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bailey, Katrina" <kbailey at UMHB.edu>

> This just clicked something. How many of you in universities or schools
have
> a college-wide dictate on what type of browser is used/supported, what
> resolution should be used, etc.? And how many of you design with those
> requirements in mind?
>

Just for funsies, and since I happen to have 1026 home pages on hand from
US academic libraries:

  grep -i 'best viewed with' *.html
    -  11 matches*

  grep '800 *x *600' *.html
    - 7 matches

  grep 'your browser does not support frames' *.html
    - 7 matches

[*Most of these actually specify Netscape 3 or higher.  At least in our
user population, that's about as necessary as saying you need a
forms-capable browser.]

This doesn't exactly answer your question, but it at least suggests that
only about 1% of these sites draw attention to such production details.
My subjective impression is that this number is way down from a couple of
years ago.

I'll forego the stump speech about browser-, version-, and
device-independence in web design and just state the obvious: campus-wide
diktats notwithstanding, there is no way to enforce a uniform browser and
version across any sizable organization.  I think a growing number of
organizations realize that and are gradually adjusting their design
standards accordingly.

Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu