Hi.

What is the best page size to use? The one I've selected is too large and you have to scroll horizontally and vertically to see the entire page. I was wondering if there was a generally accepted height and width to set in page properties. Is there one?

Thanks.

Andy

PS Thanks to all who were able to give me advice on my Pub Questions thread. It is now locked.

in your BV software you have a RULER. If you don't see one here is what you do to get it displayed on the screen.
1) go to "View" and go down to "Rulers"

once you see your rulers 100 to 800:
these are the number of pixels on the site.

it is ideal to design your site at 800 px across. this will keep you safe with all resolutions.

That said, is there a way to take what I have done and resize it all or am I looking at starting over from scratch to make my pages show up the way I want them to?

Andy

800px as said above, allows everyone to see your pages without scrolling.
Many people these days have theirs set to 1024 (or higher) - if you design your site at 1024px - put your most important info within the 800px width area. (It's no good if someone has to scroll to see the site menu)

Vertically - when you open a new BV page, it's set at 600px. - you can change this on page properties, scrolling vertically is fine.

Yes you have to move your elements around so that they fit your new page width.

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Worldwide, the out-of -the-box defaulted resolution settings are 800x600 on 98% of all computers sold, and less than 23% of these units are ever changed from these settings by user-owners. In the US primarily, the favortism has leaned dramatically toward wide screen flat panels for desktops and for laptops also, although at a slower relevant pace (people still prefer smaller screens to carry around, but still opt for wide screens if used primarily at home or office). And, wide screens max out for resolution at about 1400 wide, as anything greater tends to distort views intolerably (even for movies --- take a good look at something round next time).

Nonetheless, optimal views for about 80+% of worldwide computer Users is still 1024 or less, so maintaining page width of 800 is more than just prudent.

Now....when it comes to page height (and the reason the standard has been set at 800x600 since 1996) .... it is not just because of viewabillity: it is how the initial WWW was programmed to display pages. Now that things have increased due to the ability to actually change display preferences in modular systems (like monitors that operate independently from CPU's themselves), the benchmark of 600 tall is still standard across the board, but for a much different reason than offered above. It is because 600 lines is considered the "fold" of a web page, as would be the 'fold' in a Newspaper --- when folded, you only see the top portion of the page, and that is why the most important information, elements, navigation, etc. is always reserved to be placed "above the fold" on web pages. ANY scrolling for viewers is second best, to be sure, but more importantly the Search Engines also respect this as the demarkation line for importance: it is thus obvious why the "limit" to text content on the index page is suggested at 750 words rather than the "book limit" of 1500.
It is read faster, cached accurately, and simply "fits" above the fold without projecting a negative influence on the design/layout of the page itself, which would be a departure from the Perfect Page model for webpage construct.

That is why even today the Premium templates are all constructed under 800 wide (most are around 765-775, so there will be a page background border present) and have all the important features and functions evenly distributed well above 600. Even the "auto-stretch" type sites may indeed fill the screen or conversely "stack" items all the way down to 750, but still they default to around 500 tall.

Maybe a lot more detail than you planned on, lol

Bottom Line??
Stick to 800-wide builds (and at the very most 900 wide), remember to keep the important stuff above the fold, and make sure your page layout has a congruent theme that maintains flow and easy User appeal. You will be fine.


MY Web Design Site ... demonstrating a different understanding altogether
.

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Default settings on computers purchased in the last couple years at least (the last 3 computers I've purchased personally and several for businesses) have NOT been set with a resolution of 800 x 600 - all have been at higher resolutions. The computer I'm on right now had a resolution out-of-the-box of 1280 x 800 - which was considered the optimal resolution for this computer.

I do not know of any computer in at least 3 years with an out-of-the-box resolution of 800x600 - which is quickly becoming the resolution of the past.

Personally, I design websites today with a width of 1000 wide - and I find less than 10-15% of visitors to my site have anything less. For the past 2 months it's been under 10%.

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Beth
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