Text or Images for Navigation?

[fleemo17]

When designing the navigation for a website, should one use images as
navigation buttons or text? A purely text navigation system would
offer faster download times, but would also allow the user to bump up
the font size, which throws everything off, particularly in a
horizontal layout.

- Fleemo

[Darin McGrew]

<fl******@comcast.net> wrote:

When designing the navigation for a website, should one use images as
navigation buttons or text? A purely text navigation system would
offer faster download times, but would also allow the user to bump up
the font size, which throws everything off, particularly in a
horizontal layout.

To me, it sounds like the layout needs to be fixed so that increasing the
size of navigation links doesn't throw everything off.
--
Darin McGrew, mc****@stanfordalumni.org, http://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/
Web Design Group, da***@htmlhelp.com, http://www.HTMLHelp.com/

"You can't strengthen the weak by weakening the strong."

[Alan J. Flavell]

On 29 Apr 2005 fl******@comcast.net wrote:

A purely text navigation system would offer faster download times, but
would also allow the user to bump up the font size,
Excellent, just what the WWW is good at.
which throws everything off,

Then you're doing something wrong.

[fleemo17]

But Alan, how can you avoid an increased font size playing havoc with
your layout, like Darin said? Especially in something like a horizontal
navbar. You increase the font size, and suddenly the text in the
navbar is wrapping around beneath itself.

- Fleemo

[Lauri Raittila]

in comp.infosystems.www.authoring.stylesheets, fl******@comcast.net
wrote:

But Alan, how can you avoid an increased font size playing havoc with
your layout, like Darin said? Especially in something like a horizontal
navbar. You increase the font size, and suddenly the text in the
navbar is wrapping around beneath itself.

Of course. Same happens also when using smaller window that you thought.
If you think it well, it will work then also. Advantage is that people
that can't read "normal" text can read it. And people taking advantage of
big screen can fit 2 windows on same screen. +n other good things. Using
images with text is always bad idea

--
Lauri Raittila <http://www.iki.fi/lr> <http://www.iki.fi/zwak/fonts>
Utrecht, NL.
Support me, buy Opera:
https://secure.bmtmicro.com/opera/bu...tml?AID=882173

[Stan Brown]

"" wrote in comp.infosystems.www.authoring.stylesheets:

When designing the navigation for a website, should one use images as
navigation buttons or text?
Which one can a blind person use?
A purely text navigation system would
offer faster download times, but would also allow the user to bump up
the font size, which throws everything off, particularly in a
horizontal layout.

This is a troll, right?

If your page is so poorly designed that a change in text size
"throws everythiong off", then you've got much bigger problems.

--

Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/

[Stan Brown]

"" wrote in comp.infosystems.www.authoring.stylesheets:

You increase the font size, and suddenly the text in the
navbar is wrapping around beneath itself.

So? Why is that a bad thing? You design the navigation bar with
that possibility in mind.

Or would you rather have it always stay on one line even if the
text is too small to read and use?

Good heavens.

--

Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/

[fleemo17]

>>You increase the font size, and suddenly the text in the

navbar is wrapping around beneath itself.

So? Why is that a bad thing? You design the navigation bar with
that possibility in mind.
I should have been clearer. It's not just the text that wraps, it's
the actual buttons themselves forming a two-tier navigation system that
gets even more difficult when you throw in the drop-down menus that the
client requested.
Which one can a blind person use?
A blind person could use properly coded alt text.
This is a troll, right?
If your page is so poorly designed that a change in text size
"throws everythiong off", then you've got much bigger problems.

What's with the 'tude?

-Fleemo

[Eric Kenneth Bustad]

In article <11**********************@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups .com>,
<fl******@comcast.net> wrote:

You increase the font size, and suddenly the text in the
navbar is wrapping around beneath itself.

So? Why is that a bad thing? You design the navigation bar with
that possibility in mind.

I should have been clearer. It's not just the text that wraps, it's
the actual buttons themselves forming a two-tier navigation system that
gets even more difficult when you throw in the drop-down menus that the
client requested.

Which is more important: that users can adjust the text size so that
they can easily read it, or that the nav bar be all on one line?

If wrapping is such a big problem, use white-space: nowrap. Of course,
then you may get horizontal scrolling.
Which one can a blind person use?

A blind person could use properly coded alt text.

This is a troll, right?
If your page is so poorly designed that a change in text size
"throws everythiong off", then you've got much bigger problems.

What's with the 'tude?

You've not been reading this newsgroup long, have you?

--
= Eric Bustad, Norwegian bachelor programmer