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Subject:Re: Perfect Width for Your Online Content From:Tony Chung <tonyc -at- tonychung -dot- ca> To:Ed <hamonwry12 -at- hotmail -dot- com> Date:Wed, 23 Mar 2011 09:16:03 -0700
On 2011-03-23, at 1:33 AM, Ed <hamonwry12 -at- hotmail -dot- com> wrote:
> Many designers now use the 960gs grid system (http://960.gs/). This
> specifies a 960-pixel wide space for content.
>
The content width referred to in the URL is primarily the readable
content. 960 is a framework to quickly develop layouts based on
different column grids to a maximum of 960 pixels. The 960 framework
helps designers create evenly sized columns without needing to know
complex math. Also, it is a fixed width system; a mobile style sheet
would also need to direct the device to the appropriate content block,
as a 960-pixel width isn't ideal on mobile devices. (I guess that's
what you referred to as Responsive Design).
The readable column width may only span the width of a few 960 grid
columns. The point of the blog post was to show how to suck your
readers into a post by starting with short column text expanding into
wider column text.
I agree completely with the rest of your message.
> Further, a 1920px wide screen (which I also have) would have a ridiculously
> long word count for text. Even print design abides by a 45-75 character per line length (http://jacobian.org/writing/typography-rhythm-proportion/),
> which was suggested by Robert Bringhurst's "Elements of Typographic Style"
>http://www.amazon.com/dp/0881792063/.
>
> HTML is not a formatting language, but CSS is. There are is a new use of
> technology called Responsive Web Design
> (http://www.alistapart.com/articles/responsive-web-design/), which uses CSS
> media queries, and aims to adapt content and line length for each kind of
> device, so you won't be reading 640x480 content on your 1920x1080 screen.
>
> -=Ed.
>
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