How to make blogs user friendly ?

[Zhuli]

Hi there !

I recently got a pretty mean comment on my blog : the lady hated it cause she had to scroll horizontally to see all of it, and well, she didn't like me for some reason

However, she made a point. I can see my blog perfectly on my computer and in Firefox, but I noticed that for example, bullets don't show well with IE7. I have no clue what my blog looks like under Safari. And well, I have a failry large screen on with my blog looks fine, but I'm not sure how people with smaller screens see my blog.

How can we compromise ? Is there a way to make blogs user-friendly for everyone ? How do you deal with this kind of problem ?

[jshaffstall]

You can safely assume most people are running at 800x600 or higher, based on an analysis of 5 years' worth of data at w3schools: Browser Display Statistics

Your site looks fine in 1024x768, which is pretty common. You could scale it down to where it looked good in 800x600, but the trend in the analysis linked above seems to show that lower resolutions are on the way out.

It also depends on your target audience. People with poor eyesight may run at lower resolutions and/or with larger fonts, which might throw off a website's display. Technical people probably are the ones running with even higher resolutions.

If you're using something like Google Analytics, you'll get data on the screen resolution your actual visitor have. So you can see if the majority of your visitor are in 800x600 or something higher. If the majority are in low resolution, it'd be a nice gesture to rework the site to fit into their screen size.

Jay

[solidghost]

Biggest headache for all web designers - resolutions and browser.
I just try to design for the most popular screens out there, much easier.

[Zhuli]

Thanks both for your insights. I checked my blog with various computers but never really had a problem viewing it. However, IE usually messes it up a bit.

I never really though about this issue before to be honest !

[Bloggeries]

Originally Posted by Zhuli

Thanks both for your insights. I checked my blog with various computers but never really had a problem viewing it. However, IE usually messes it up a bit.

I never really though about this issue before to be honest !

It's true most people never even think of it until they've finished their first website design and realize that when another screen resolution is on it doesn't fit at all; or one of your tables is too wide so in IE it shows it underneath your whole page or something else horrible yet firefox is smart enough to figure it out and display it properly. I always use firefox but check my sites in IE. (Or try too! )

[solidghost]

You should, because no matter what, IE is still the most popular browser.

[Bloggeries]

lol, I do check them but you are 100% right. If you check your stats I'm sure it's the same for you the vast majority of visitors are still in IE so making sure it loads well in IE is a necessity.

Rob

Originally Posted by solidghost

You should, because no matter what, IE is still the most popular browser.

[Zhuli]

I have to fix a couple of stuffs on my blog to make it IE friendly then... I hate this browser !

[Bloggeries]

Originally Posted by Zhuli

I have to fix a couple of stuffs on my blog to make it IE friendly then... I hate this browser !

Yeah I was hessitant to go towards Firefox at first but after doing it a few times wow what a difference. I especially love how it works with tabs instead of new windows. Alot easier to manage both visually and on cpu load.

[Zhuli]

I love the Mozilla plugins... It really changed my life ! No ads, better browsing - they are really good !