For years, web developers have been looking forward to that next feature, that new and monumental shift which has allowed them to break away from the shackles of obsolescence and adopt new and forward thinking technologies. But it is beginning to come full circle—that thirst for new technology has slowly brought us back to square one, reimposing the constraints that we have, for years, tried to rid ourselves of. Moving forward is holding us back.
Okay, okay. That was a very alarmist intro. There is no web developers’ apocalypse around the corner (not that I know of anyway, please don’t take anything I say about the apocalypse as read. I don’t want that responsibility.), nor are we going to have to regress to using tables and spacer GIFs again. The real issue here is that with all this new technology that keeps emerging and exciting web developers is unwittingly reimposing the restrictions of yesteryear…
Screen resolutions
Remember trying to break away from 800×600px?
With the movement toward a more mobile web, screen resolutions are in fact getting smaller. The iPhone’s maximum resolution is 480px, increasingly popular netbooks are set at about 1024px wide. Such a shift toward mobile and portable devices mean that screen sizes are actually getting smaller.
In my opinion, iPhones and other mobile devices should be handled separately, serving them device specific CSS. Netbooks on the other hand are still ‘desktop’ machines like any other. Their smallness is their key feature, and at 1024px horizontal resolution, they aren’t that small anyway…
With the 960 Grid System, and an optimum line length of 52–78 characters, sticking to 1024px shouldn’t be that difficult anyway. I believe that although desktop monitor sizes are generally getting larger, other equally important technologies are creeping up, and as responsible developers you should cater for them. Sure you may want to start adopting the 1080 grid, which is all well and good if you know your audience, but to cater for the majority, we’re not ready to burst 1024 yet.
Connection speeds
Remember building for 56k dial up connections? (I don’t)
Where permanent and fixed connections are getting much faster, connections to mobile devices through means such as 3G are much slower. The ability to optimise sites to be fast loading over such connections is getting more important. As edge-case resolutions are getting smaller, edge-case connections are getting slower. Much slower.
A word on Flash
Remember 2Advanced? A site of yesteryear…
Flash seems to be dying a death anyway these days, slowly being superseded by Javascript and Canvas et al. However, what was once a fantastically powerful technology has been ousted completely from Apple’s i products, making in an inviable option for content which needs to be universally accessible.
A real life example?
Anyone with an iPhone will know what I mean—spending any amount of time on an iPhone loading poorly optimised sites is a real grind, and via some sensible optimisation these problems can be easily alleviated.
However, a more interesting example might be the one that happened to myself… When we first started at Venturelab we really were building the company from the ground up. For the first few weeks we were without desktop machines and internet. I was working on a 10.1″ netbook with a screen resolution of 1024×600px, and over a poor 3G connection via a dongle.
“Accessibility isn’t just about disabilities, it’s about varying degrees of ability to access content.”
Working in this manner really made me wonder whether enough people are delivering content in a manner which is accessible on numerous levels. Accessibility isn’t just about disabilities, it’s about varying degrees of ability to access content. As responsible developers your content should be accessible through a full spectrum of means and in an acceptable manner.
All it takes is some decent optimisation (which is also set to reap SEO benefits) and a reasonable page layout and you’re already halfway there.
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Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 in Web Development.
Russell Poulter said on 2 March, 2010 at 10:51 pm
Hi Harry,
Nice post, very well written. Accessibility is defiantly something I’m trying to improve on. I use the 960 grid for my designs but have not, as yet, done any specific coding for mobile devices like the iphone. Its defiantly on my list of ‘things to learn’
Thanks
Henry said on 3 March, 2010 at 8:28 am
I thought of the same idea. I browse my site with my netbook more often than my desktop. Designers should re-consider using certain width that will keep certain people from staying on the site. Great thoughts and approach.
- Henry
Samuel Turner said on 3 March, 2010 at 11:00 am
Interesting concept Harry, it does strike me though that rather than holding us back, it’s just presenting a greater challenge.
In some ways I agree, things are going backwards in terms of mobile devices, screen resolutions are getting smaller, and connections slower, but the other end of the scale is steaming ahead aswell.
Modern desktop systems tend to come with widescreen monitors now and powerful hardware, so it seems to me that the goalposts are just moving further apart, and along with them the audience’s expectations are soaring, so the challenge is to create sites which work well and look stylish on both handheld devices, and large desktop systems.
When I started you just tended to cater for resolutions of 1024-1680 wide or there abouts, now it’s more like 480px or even down to 240px, all the way to 2560px.
I agree with you on flash though, never was a fan anyway. :P
rod rodriguez said on 4 March, 2010 at 4:37 am
Good point, I’m working with some phone developers now and only during this time did I get a grasp that a lot of users are going mobile. Makes you think about that market when designing web pages. Thanks for sharing…
Tina Clarke said on 4 March, 2010 at 4:40 am
“Accessibility isn’t just about disabilities, it’s about varying degrees of ability to access content”
I thought the above quote was a better title so I tweeted the article with that instead of bookmarking through delicious and it sending a tweet with the the link:) Great post, I am seeing more and more on this subject. I design at 800×600 because I often surf at that size though I have a large moniter.
TIna
Peach said on 4 March, 2010 at 5:05 am
Nice read. very interesting point of view here.
NikaLabs said on 4 March, 2010 at 5:32 am
Nicely written. Although i think its too early to conclude the story of flash and its destiny. When you have google going against Apple with its Android and allowing flash to run on that platform, flash gets a new life supply.
WhateverFloats said on 4 March, 2010 at 7:40 am
Good read. I just wish the legacy of tables wasn’t such that people jokingly refer to them as the gangrene limb we’re all so glad to be rid of; I learned web dev back in the 90’s when tables reigned supreme. Their time has passed, but pay your respects to them like a dead relative. They served their purpose and were a stepping stone. *lol* And I’m kinda in the boat of people thinking, “Flash will last, in some form or another. Apple be damned.” On that note, everyone here should look up the article “iPhone is the new IE6.”
Ian Patrick Buss said on 4 March, 2010 at 11:46 pm
I love this article, I was thinking to myself a couple weeks ago when I upgraded to the Motorola Droid that as the screens are getting smaller on those netbooks and mobile devices, we gotta start simplifying the pages. I’ll be writing an article soon on that…
CoachZ said on 6 March, 2010 at 12:22 pm
FullAck to WhateverFloats, why is everyone praising the death of Flash? It´s been around and will be around, html5 will maybe replace fash for playing video but flash is much more than video. In fact, with Flash CS5 around exporting to iPhone apps is as easy as pressing on a button. Therefore Flash will stick around and make its way to other devices (Phones, MediaPlayers, you name it).
Dorthea Grinstead said on 8 March, 2010 at 10:52 am
Smart phones are getting so cool these days. Androids are the way to go. Great article…! You have a new fan… ME. I’ll be back soon to read some more.
Jolie said on 17 March, 2010 at 9:58 am
Great Article!
If I could write like this I would be well chuffed ;-)
The more I read articles of such quality as this (which is rare), the more I think there might be a future for the Web. Keep it up, as it were.
Amy said on 23 April, 2010 at 2:21 pm
I love this article, I was thinking to myself a couple weeks ago when I upgraded to the Motorola Droid that as the screens are getting smaller on those netbooks and mobile devices, we gotta start simplifying the pages. I’ll be writing an article soon on that…