RE: Perfect Width for Your Online Content

["Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>]

Sandy Harris wrote: 
 
> Almost anyone who is setting the width -- using tables
> and other tricks to control formatting -- is simply doing
> it wrong. HTML is not a formatting language.
> 
> When I bring up your site on my 1920-wide screen,
> do not limit me to your 640 by 480 lowest common
> denominator format. The text should flow to fill my
> screen.

When I bring up your site on my 1920-wide screen, and it flows to fill the screen, then I have to resize my browser window to 800 or so pixels in order to have half-way readable line lengths. Since I have a dozen other tabs open in my browser, I have to resize the window again when I switch to another tab. 

Feh! This mantra of "HTML is not a formatting language, let the user set the width" was fine in 1993, but it doesn't work so well today. 

I don't _want_ to have to fiddle with my browser window size every time I go to a new site with a different sidebar arrangement, etc. I want your site to be at least somewhat readable over a wide range of window sizes. 

Therefore, I want the text column to resize, but only within reasonable maximum and minimum values. A 1920-pixel text line isn't reasonable. Heck, a 1200-pixel text line isn't reasonable. 

IMHO, of course. 

Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
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