Topics of Discussion - Terence M. Bandoian

Web Pages That Scale

T T

Whatever happened to web pages that scale gracefully?

Monitors are getting bigger. And smaller. Resolution is improving. People sit farther away or way too close. Older users don't see as well as they used to. The need for scalability is beyond question. The HTML and CSS specifications include provisions for scaling. Browsers include features to allow users to scale web pages.

How well do your web pages scale? Here are a couple of simple tests.

In Firefox:

Select View -> Zoom from the main menu and make sure 'Zoom Text Only' is checked. Then press <Ctrl>-'+' three or four times.

Does the page hold together? Or does it fall apart? Do menus and blocks of text overwrite each other? Or spill out of their backgrounds? Is the page still readable? Does it still look presentable?

Press <Ctrl>-'0' to restore the default text size. Then <Ctrl>-'-' a few times. Same questions.

In Internet Explorer:

Select View -> Text Size -> Largest and ask the same questions.

Then View -> Text Size -> Smallest.

In Chrome:

Select Settings from the toolbar menu, then Show advanced settings... at the bottom.

Adjust the font size with Font Size drop-down menu under Web Content.

Seems like we should be doing better. The tools are there. It isn't enough to rely on browser Zoom features.

MVC in a JSP

<%--

Documentation - comments, notes, revisions, etc.

--%><%@page

contentType="and other attributes"

%><%

/* Controller - process request, handle errors, update Model. */

%>

Simple, direct, clean and efficient. See the JavaServer Pages Specification for additional information and details.

Image courtesy Regis Frey via Wikimedia Commons.

	Terence M. Bandoian Web Applications • Database Applications
	Home Services Clients Topics About Contact Topics of Discussion Web Pages That Scale T T Whatever happened to web pages that scale gracefully? Monitors are getting bigger. And smaller. Resolution is improving. People sit farther away or way too close. Older users don't see as well as they used to. The need for scalability is beyond question. The HTML and CSS specifications include provisions for scaling. Browsers include features to allow users to scale web pages. How well do your web pages scale? Here are a couple of simple tests. In Firefox: Select View -> Zoom from the main menu and make sure 'Zoom Text Only' is checked. Then press <Ctrl>-'+' three or four times. Does the page hold together? Or does it fall apart? Do menus and blocks of text overwrite each other? Or spill out of their backgrounds? Is the page still readable? Does it still look presentable? Press <Ctrl>-'0' to restore the default text size. Then <Ctrl>-'-' a few times. Same questions. In Internet Explorer: Select View -> Text Size -> Largest and ask the same questions. Then View -> Text Size -> Smallest. In Chrome: Select Settings from the toolbar menu, then Show advanced settings... at the bottom. Adjust the font size with Font Size drop-down menu under Web Content. Seems like we should be doing better. The tools are there. It isn't enough to rely on browser Zoom features. MVC in a JSP <%-- Documentation - comments, notes, revisions, etc. --%><%@page contentType="and other attributes" %><% /* Controller - process request, handle errors, update Model. */ %> <!-- Update View - HTML, XML, JSON, plain text, etc. --> Simple, direct, clean and efficient. See the JavaServer Pages Specification for additional information and details. Image courtesy Regis Frey via Wikimedia Commons.
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