Posted by kchayka on 10/05/35 11:16

tshad wrote:
> "kchayka" <usenet@c-net.us> wrote in message
> news:3esrk2F4pkigU1@individual.net...
>> tshad wrote:
>>>
>>> We have enough problems getting
>>> the text and boxes to look right is all browsers using a fixed font.
>>
>> Are you saying it doesn't matter whether the visitor can read it or not,
>> as long as it looks OK (to you, not necessarily the visitor)?
>
> No.

Hmmm... I don't see where you've indicated that readability has any
importance at all, only that you maintain a particular layout.

> I can always make it only one column long and make a real long form. Of
> course, it won't look like the original form we were trying to replicate.

Perhaps you haven't heard... web != paper

If it is so important to have an exact, particular layout, HTML is a
poor choice. PDF is much better suited to that task. Regardless, a web
version of a paper form does not have to look identical to the original.
Whoever said it does is lying, or maybe just uneducated regarding how
the web works.

>>> when we tried using relative sizing, it would look great in one browser
>>> and a mess in others.
>>
>> Then your design is broken.
>
> My design is wrong?

Yup. :)

> Name: Address: Business name:
> Phone:
> Type of Degree/Diploma Received? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx
>
> This is off a form and just fits the screen when set to 10px.

Maybe for you it does. You are presuming the visitor will have both a
viewport large enough to fit that in one line, and be able to read a
10px font. So what happens when either or both of those assumptions turn
out to be false? Is the content still usable for those visitors?

By your counts, it gets totally hosed up. That's a sign of poor web
design. People *will* need different text sizes and *will* use different
window sizes. It's a fact. You can't control it. It is your
responsibility as a web developer to account for it, not try to prevent
it (which you can't do, anyway).

> But if you are limited to making the Form look like the original,

That is a bogus limitation. Was that requirement made by a clueful web
designer, or some management or marketing type? I can already guess the
answer.

> I'm not sure how you can free form the size of the
> text and make it fit in a limited space.

I'll repeat: web != paper

Adaptability to different browsing environments, which includes varying
text and window sizes, is a fundamental property of the web. If you stop
trying to force a web page do something against its very nature, you'll
have much more success and much less frustration.

Free yourself of the print mindset, eh?

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