[Sigia-l] width limits for a body of text

[Thomas Vander Wal]

George Olsen wrote:
> Jon Hanna said:
> 
>>That said, making oneself comfortable is such a innate thing to do I'd
>>be surprised if there weren't a large number of users who would resize a
>>window to increase readability without even realising they did (assuming
>>they had a large enough screen size to make that practical).
> 
> 
> Based on my own usability testing experience (and just watching people in
> the office), surprisingly few people adjust their browser windows to
> improve readability.
> 
> Windows users in particularly are used to maximizing their application
> windows. So while if you point out the issue, they'll become aware of it
> and resize the window, typically most folks don't think to do it.
> 
> Your mileage may vary...

In formal user tests I have run into very few users that actually resize 
their browser window to increase readability.  Most have never heard of 
increasing readability.  (I have actually had two users state, "isn't 
that for you (me) to think about and understand?")

One approach that works in the CSS layout realm is to set a maximum 
width for the page size and to leave use percentages so to give a liquid 
approach up to a certain width.  One personal site that does this well 
is www.scottandrew.com.

All the best,
Thomas