What Size Screen Do You Design For?

[Hal Vaughan]

Most of what I've done in Java is for a small business and any GUI had to be
able to be run in a 640x480 screen because some of the software goes on
servers that are hooked up to cheap monitors that aren't used often.

Now I'm writing some simple programs and utilities that I can use and I'm
sure others will like. I'll be releasing them as open source so people can
do what they like. I've realized that I don't have to be bound by the
640x480 screen size anymore, but I don't know what most people tend to have
as a minimum now days.

For just simple stuff that I'd like for most people to be able to use, what
can I count on as the smallest screen size in general use? I was thinking
800x600, but a few friends have told me that most people now can do larger
than that now.

So what do you count on as a screen size your Java GUI programs can expect?

Thanks!

Hal

 

[Hal Rosser]

Most of what I've done in Java is for a small business and any GUI had to
be
able to be run in a 640x480 screen because some of the software goes on
servers that are hooked up to cheap monitors that aren't used often.

Now I'm writing some simple programs and utilities that I can use and I'm
sure others will like. I'll be releasing them as open source so people
can
do what they like. I've realized that I don't have to be bound by the
640x480 screen size anymore, but I don't know what most people tend to
have
as a minimum now days.

For just simple stuff that I'd like for most people to be able to use,
what
can I count on as the smallest screen size in general use? I was thinking
800x600, but a few friends have told me that most people now can do larger
than that now.

So what do you count on as a screen size your Java GUI programs can
expect?

Thanks!

Hal

I've had the same situations - but I had not heard of the Toolkit class at
that time.
You can size your gui depending on the screen size (and a whole lot more)
using this class.
But other than that, the screen resolution I use depends on the monitor I'm
hooked up to at the time, but is usually greater than 800x600 - at this
moment, its 1280 x 1024.

 

[Hal Vaughan]

I've had the same situations - but I had not heard of the Toolkit class at
that time.
You can size your gui depending on the screen size (and a whole lot more)
using this class.

I haven't seen the Toolkit class before. I see some useful methods, like
getScreenSize(), but overall, when I'm designing a window, I'm often trying
to fit the controls I need in it and I want to make sure they'll all fit in
the largest size window I can fit on a small screen. Then if the user has
a larger screen, it's easy to resize it and let Swing handle all that.

In other words, I design for the smallest possible size and figure it can be
expanded from there if the user wants.

But other than that, the screen resolution I use depends on the monitor
I'm hooked up to at the time, but is usually greater than 800x600 - at
this moment, its 1280 x 1024.

My guess is that 1280x1024 is about what I can count on most users having at
this point, but I do know of one or two people who are using very old
computers. I don't know if they're an exception or not.

Thanks for the thoughts!

Hal

 

[Daniel Dyer]

My guess is that 1280x1024 is about what I can count on most users
having at
this point, but I do know of one or two people who are using very old
computers. I don't know if they're an exception or not.

I have 1280x1024 too, but I wouldn't count on everybody having it. I
wouldn't make a GUI that couldn't fit comfortably on 1024x768 (the actual
application window may be a bit smaller to allow for any desktop features
like the Windows taskbar). Bear in mind that there are still a lot of
laptops around that have native resolutions of 1024x768.

Dan.

 

[Hal Vaughan]

I have 1280x1024 too, but I wouldn't count on everybody having it. I
wouldn't make a GUI that couldn't fit comfortably on 1024x768 (the actual
application window may be a bit smaller to allow for any desktop features
like the Windows taskbar). Bear in mind that there are still a lot of
laptops around that have native resolutions of 1024x768.

Forgot laptops! I use a Nokia N770, but that's small enough that I don't
expect most of my stuff to work on it. (I don't even know if Java runs on
it!)

Thanks for the reminder.

Hal

 

[Richard F.L.R.Snashall]

Now I'm writing some simple programs and utilities that I can use and I'm
sure others will like. I'll be releasing them as open source so people can
do what they like. I've realized that I don't have to be bound by the
640x480 screen size anymore, but I don't know what most people tend to have
as a minimum now days.

I still have people who use 640x480; to make matters worse, for vision
reasons, they also use a very large font. I need to set up scrolling
to allow for that worst case scenario. Working for the 95% group doesn't
cut it.

 

[Joshua Cranmer]

For just simple stuff that I'd like for most people to be able to use, what
can I count on as the smallest screen size in general use? I was thinking
800x600, but a few friends have told me that most people now can do larger
than that now.

The computer I am currently using is 1024x768, although I am not
terribly happy with something that small anymore. Most new equipment can
handle 1280x1024 (not quite a 4:3 resolution), but many people,
especially older folks, are still using 1024x768, and a few are still
using 800x600.

So what do you count on as a screen size your Java GUI programs can expect?

I would probably work off of 1024x768, although I don't really work with
GUIs large enough to worry about it in the first place.

 

[Eric Sosman]

I have 1280x1024 too, but I wouldn't count on everybody having it. I
wouldn't make a GUI that couldn't fit comfortably on 1024x768 (the
actual application window may be a bit smaller to allow for any desktop
features like the Windows taskbar). Bear in mind that there are still a
lot of laptops around that have native resolutions of 1024x768.

Also bear in mind that the existence of a large screen does
not necessarily imply that the user wants to devote the whole
thing to just one application. I quite often work with multiple
windows simultaneously, maybe copying and pasting between a
browser and a spreadsheet or something like that. It improves
inter-window navigability if I can arrange to have substantial
portions of both windows visible simultaneously.

 

[Mark Rafn]

Now I'm writing some simple programs and utilities that I can use and I'm
sure others will like. I'll be releasing them as open source so people can
do what they like. I've realized that I don't have to be bound by the
640x480 screen size anymore, but I don't know what most people tend to have
as a minimum now days.

Don't assume any specific screen size, unless it's an app that you know will
only run on certain hardware. Even if you say that 95% of your current target
audience has 1024x768 or larger screens, you don't want to constrain them from
running your software on their 160x160 palmtop.

I'd recommend picking a minimum that's as tiny as you can make actually
function, and writing code that scales gracefully up from there.

The balance of when you adjust your UI to keep a smaller minimum screen size
is up to you, and will depend on the target for the software itself.

For just simple stuff that I'd like for most people to be able to use, what
can I count on as the smallest screen size in general use? I was thinking
800x600, but a few friends have told me that most people now can do larger
than that now.

Most people can, many people cannot. I'd set 320x200 as a reasonable
functional minimum for general-purpose software. Of course, it should be
resizable so it's worthwhile to have bigger space available.

 

[Lew]

Also bear in mind that the existence of a large screen does
not necessarily imply that the user wants to devote the whole
thing to just one application. I quite often work with multiple
windows simultaneously, maybe copying and pasting between a
browser and a spreadsheet or something like that. It improves
inter-window navigability if I can arrange to have substantial
portions of both windows visible simultaneously.

How about thinking of what size you want the screen, at 96 dpi?

 

[David Segall]

Most of what I've done in Java is for a small business and any GUI had to be
able to be run in a 640x480 screen because some of the software goes on
servers that are hooked up to cheap monitors that aren't used often.

Now I'm writing some simple programs and utilities that I can use and I'm
sure others will like. I'll be releasing them as open source so people can
do what they like. I've realized that I don't have to be bound by the
640x480 screen size anymore, but I don't know what most people tend to have
as a minimum now days.

For just simple stuff that I'd like for most people to be able to use, what
can I count on as the smallest screen size in general use? I was thinking
800x600, but a few friends have told me that most people now can do larger
than that now.

So what do you count on as a screen size your Java GUI programs can expect?

I design for 1024x768 but expect the application to work from 800x600
up with the addition of scroll bars where necessary. The task has
suddenly become more difficult because the monitor aspect ratio can be
16:9 (or 16:10) as well as 4:3. I think the trend to 16:9 will
accelerate due to the mass production of wide screen LCD televisions.
My monitor is 1680x1050 and I find that GUIs and web pages that look
good at 1024x768 look ridiculous if they are uniformly expanded to
full screen. Most web sites overcome this problem by restricting the
width of the web page.

There are some screen size statistics at
<http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_display.asp> but the page
explains why they are probably inaccurate.

 

[120]

I design for 1024x768 but expect the application to work from 800x600
up with the addition of scroll bars where necessary. The task has
suddenly become more difficult because the monitor aspect ratio can be
16:9 (or 16:10) as well as 4:3. I think the trend to 16:9 will
accelerate due to the mass production of wide screen LCD televisions.
My monitor is 1680x1050 and I find that GUIs and web pages that look
good at 1024x768 look ridiculous if they are uniformly expanded to
full screen. Most web sites overcome this problem by restricting the
width of the web page.

There are some screen size statistics at
<http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_display.asp> but the page
explains why they are probably inaccurate.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

give your a rererence site, wish can be help you: www.java-index.com,it's
a question site....

 

[Roedy Green]

I still have people who use 640x480; to make matters worse, for vision
reasons, they also use a very large font. I need to set up scrolling
to allow for that worst case scenario. Working for the 95% group doesn't
cut it.

If your app runs as an Applet, you get scrolling of the entire app
window for free.

I am waiting for intelligent layouts that, when space gets tight, do
things like:

1. hide labels. Tooltips let you identify fields.
2. reduce the size of fields, allowing a times square display of
what's left.
3. hide lesser importance fields, with a way to pop them up.
4. reduce the font size.
5. turn on scrolling of various regions, Apple grabber style rather
than scrollbars.
6. when you edit a field it pops up to full size with full size font.

Other things I would like them to do is international addresses. When
you choose the country automatically the postal field moves the
correct spot, and any country specific fields appear.

To the programmer this looks like a single atomic widget.

 

[Lew]

I am waiting for intelligent layouts that, when space gets tight, do
things like:

1. hide labels. Tooltips let you identify fields.
2. reduce the size of fields, allowing a times square display of
what's left.
3. hide lesser importance fields, with a way to pop them up.
4. reduce the font size.
5. turn on scrolling of various regions, Apple grabber style rather
than scrollbars.
6. when you edit a field it pops up to full size with full size font.

Other things I would like them to do is international addresses. When
you choose the country automatically the postal field moves the
correct spot, and any country specific fields appear.

To the programmer this looks like a single atomic widget.

Sounds like a good idea to put up on your "projects" page.