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Posted by Jose on 12/31/05 19:07
> It's partly visual and partly practical
Ok, practical first.
> From a usage point of view, yes, sometime (only sometimes)
> if I wanted to move a border, it might be nice...
.... and what advantage is there to you, if the web designer decided that
you should not be able to move that border, and therefore had to
horizontal-scroll for every line of text you read? And just because you
(one user) don't mind this, that doesn't mean that other users (of which
there could be thousands) wouldn't appreciate the ability. This is
especially true when the user needs to increase the font size, and
therefore needs more room on the pane of interest). Of course there is
a tradeoff, what is the advantage (to the user) of not letting the user
make that tradeoff?
As for tabbed browsing as a substitute for the ability to resize frames,
one still cannot see both tabs at once, nor can you see your spreadsheet
at the same time as a web page on limited screen real estate if you
can't resize gracefully, which includes resizing frames.
Now for the visual aspect - it is a flawed premise that web sites should
be designed visually. It's an attractive premise to clients, who think
that users all have (or should have) a 21 inch monitor completely
devoted to their web site, but unless the client is going to follow the
user around with an appropriate piece of hardware to play their website
on, graphic design gets in the way. (and if the client =does= follow
the user around, the client gets in the way. :)
To repeat what others must have said many times:
The designer has no control over...
1: the size of the user's screen.
2: the other work the user is doing at the time.
3: the visual acuity of the user
4: the information the user is actually seeking (which is often
different from what the client wants the user to seek)
5: the bandwidth of the user's connection
6: the speed or bugginess of the user's hardware
7: the present load on the user's machine
and many other factors that contribute to the usability of a site.
Removing the ability for the user to compensate for any of this by
resizing windows or frames (or any other way) is an act of contempt for
the user.
Jose
--
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