Why do web pages waste so much space?

[WelshBloke]

Just went to the main AT page to read the new Nokia review and was struck by how much horizontal space is totally wasted.

I'm using a widescreen monitor (who doesn't these days?) and I'd say that the article takes up slightly less than a third of the available horizontal space.

Why are web pages designed like some sort of ancient Egyptian papyrus scroll? The design seems suited to the opposite of most monitors. (Most people have their monitors in landscape and most webpages seem designed for portrait).

/firstworldproblem

 

[Arcadio]

Believe it or not, many people still use 1024x768 as their screen resolution.

 

[amdhunter]

Believe it or not, many people still use 1024x768 as their screen resolution.

No they don't.

 

[WelshBloke]

Believe it or not, many people still use 1024x768 as their screen resolution.

Maybe they should get a new monitor.





Seriously though these forums gracefully fill up all the usable space why cant standard webpages make more of an effort?

 

[Anubis]

No they don't.

if thy dont it cant be far off something like 1280*1024 or 1440*900, both of which were/are the standard rez of 17-19in LCDs the first being 4:3 and the 2nd being 16:10

 

[Wyndru]

No they don't.

There still are some using it, 13% as of 2012. 85% use higher resolutions.

http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_display.asp

Granted, this is just users going to w3schools.

 

[silverpig]

if thy dont it cant be far off something like 1280*1024 or 1440*900, both of which were/are the standard rez of 17-19in LCDs the first being 4:3 and the 2nd being 16:9

How is 1440x900 16:9?

 

[Anubis]

How is 1440x900 16:9?

its not its 16:10, i need more coffee

 

[silverpig]

its not its 16:10, i need more coffee

Get me one too while you're at it. Dark roast. Black.

Thanks!

 

[Anubis]

it might be cold by the time i drive it up to TO, even my thermos wont keep coffee warm for 4 hours

 

[gorcorps]

Believe it or not, many people still use 1024x768 as their screen resolution.

I would venture a guess and say that somebody frequenting AT's main page doesn't regularly use that old of a monitor. This is not a site for the average joe PC user.

 

[AFurryReptile]

In the business environment, it's quite common to see older people use a lower resolution - even on a nice display. It's all ugly and stretched - but they don't seem to mind.

I'd say that over the 40 computers I manage, at least 10 of them are this way.

 

[Vic Vega]

...

 

[SlitheryDee]

ipad 1 and 2 are 1024x768, and while the new ipad doubles the resolution, it keeps the same aspect ratio. That alone will probably hold back widescreen-friendly websites for a long time.

 

[Anubis]

In the business environment, it's quite common to see older people use a lower resolution -

its not older people its business in general, we just did a global computer refresh

the monitors that went out with new systems are samsung syncmaster b1940s running a shit-tastic 1440*900 rez to get a better one you have to special order it and pay for it yourself out of your dept/expt fund

 

[The Boston Dangler]

ipad 1 and 2 are 1024x768, and while the new ipad doubles the resolution, it keeps the same aspect ratio. That alone will probably hold back widescreen-friendly websites for a long time.

i think you're overstating the importance of ipads

 

[SlitheryDee]

i think you're overstating the importance of ipads

I dunno. I sure saw a lot of web pages suddenly start offering HTML5 video after the ipad came out. Of course it was coming anyway, but the ipad seemed to kick things into gear a bit.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

I dunno. I sure saw a lot of web pages suddenly start offering HTML5 video after the ipad came out. Of course it was coming anyway, but the ipad seemed to kick things into gear a bit.

maybe, but you would still zoom in to read anything, right?

 

[WelshBloke]

Seriously though these forums gracefully fill up all the usable space why cant standard webpages make more of an effort?

Still this though.

Why cant the page layout be a bit more dynamic and change depending on the available space?

 

[Dominato3r]

Its probably cause 1024x768 is one of the most widely used resolutions. In a recent blog post by the windows team, they said 1024x768 was still the most widely used resolution on windows 7/vista.

 

[esun]

Another thing to consider, it isn't always better to have extremely long lines of text. For example:

http://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/em/

Also consider newspapers and magazines, which typically format things into columns shorter than the full page width. I think there is a better solution than making the whole page that narrow (like using multiple columns), but still if you're lazy it's an easy solution.

 

[JoeBleed]

Believe it or not, many people still use 1024x768 as their screen resolution.

<----- 2x 1024x768 21" CRTs at work. The CRTs can go much higher, but i can't read it well as it gets higher.

As for the OP complaining about wasted space, how about all the people that like the stupid forum quick link bar to the left. I loved that it was gone during the early move to vB. But people wined because they were too goddamn lazy to click a couple extra times. Now we have that bit wasted space to the left.

 

[sourceninja]

I don't want a website that needs full screen to look right. I want to multitask.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Another thing to consider, it isn't always better to have extremely long lines of text. For example:

http://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/em/

Also consider newspapers and magazines, which typically format things into columns shorter than the full page width. I think there is a better solution than making the whole page that narrow (like using multiple columns), but still if you're lazy it's an easy solution.

This is pretty much what I was thinking. I don't want to read a line of text that goes across the entire screen. It's much easier when the paragraphs are a certain width, and it's nowhere near the size of a typical monitor.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

What he said. Also their are liquid layouts but it's harder to get them to work across browsers without something getting broken. You get floating images. Misaligned headers. Stuff like that. A lot of designers also avoid them because they want their template/layout to look the same for everyone.