Design Theory Site Design Page Design Screen Resolution & Size MultiMedia Teacher Resources Table of Contents Home Page Copyright © 1999 by Bonnie Skaalid

Many of the recommendations for layout in the section on screen design research pertain to fixed screen layout for CAI or multimedia. The web presents a unique challenge to designers for several reasons. Since the web can be used on multiple platforms, with varying screen resolutions (from 640 x 480 up to 1048 x 760) and with color depths varying from black and white all the way to 32 bit color, a designer needs to be very careful in the way they design their layout. Recommendations: Design for the smallest standard screen which is: Macintosh size (Macintosh screen area is smaller than Wintel machines) 595 pixels wide by 295 pixels high 14 inch monitor (640- x 480 pixel area) 256 colors Start your design in black and white to ensure readability for persons with color deficiency Include ALT tags on all image files to ensure that people using text-only browsers or special readers (ie blind or sight deficient users) are still able to access the information provided in your pages [2]. Gillespie [1] has created a ruler which can be used to design pages which will fit on all machines. Lynch and Horton [3] have provided a graphic which shows the minimum width and depth which will show on most monitors. [1] Gillespie, J. (1998). Web design for designers. [Online]. Available: http://www.wpdfd.com/wpdtame.htm#webruler [2] Lynch, P. & Horton, S. (1997). Web style manual, 2nd ed. Yale Center for Advanced Instructional Media. [Online]. Available: http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/contents.html [3] Lynch, P. & Horton, S. (1997). Web style manual, 2nd ed. Yale Center for Advanced Instructional Media. [Online]. Available: http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/pages/safe_area.html Page Design:[Multimedia & Web Page Design Principles] [Screen Design Research] [Screen Resolution & Size] [Writing Style] Main Level: [Home Page] [Design Theory][Site Design] [Page Design] [MultiMedia] [Teacher Resources] [Table of Contents]