best way to set line width

[The Bicycling Guitarist]

Hi. It has been suggested that I adjust line length in my pages online.
Using Google to search for max-width, I have found at least two different
methods to get Internet Explorer to emulate max-width.

My questions are: should I change my margins from 6% (their current value)
to 8% or more? Obviously that will affect everything on the page, not just
lines of text.

If I use max-width, how to implement it. In the css for each class? maybe
some sweeping declaration for all <pin my website?

If I use max-width, which of the Internet Explorer workarounds is the best?

My web site is www.TheBicyclingGuitarist.net The home page isn't a problem
with readability, but there are many pages with text in the site (My Studies
pages for example). Thanks

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

The Bicycling Guitarist wrote:

If I use max-width, how to implement it. In the css for each class?
maybe some sweeping declaration for all <pin my website?

If all of your pages' contents were enclosed in a <div id="content">, it
would be easy to add max-width to it. Your pages don't have that so you
would be stuck editing every page in some way or another.

I don't see it as worth the effort. Astute surfers know they can reduce
the width of their browser window. Most won't care.

If I use max-width, which of the Internet Explorer workarounds is the
best?

Ah, it's always a 'workaround' for IE. I wouldn't bother, but that's my
opinion.

--
-bts
-Motorcycles defy gravity; cars just suck

[David E. Ross]

On 7/28/2007 8:10 AM, The Bicycling Guitarist wrote:

Hi. It has been suggested that I adjust line length in my pages online.
Using Google to search for max-width, I have found at least two different
methods to get Internet Explorer to emulate max-width.

My questions are: should I change my margins from 6% (their current value)
to 8% or more? Obviously that will affect everything on the page, not just
lines of text.

If I use max-width, how to implement it. In the css for each class? maybe
some sweeping declaration for all <pin my website?

If I use max-width, which of the Internet Explorer workarounds is the best?

My web site is www.TheBicyclingGuitarist.net The home page isn't a problem
with readability, but there are many pages with text in the site (My Studies
pages for example). Thanks

Your Web site displays okay already.

Don't contrive fixed line-widths. That will only annoy users who don't
have windows set to the width you expect.

Also, don't contrive to meet IE. Instead, develop your pages according
to the W3C specifications and the recommendations of the Viewable with
Any Browser Campaign (at
<http://www.anybrowser.org/campaign/index.html>). If IE can't handle
the W3C specifications, that's a Micro$oft problem and not your problem.

--

David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>.

Don't ask "Why is there road rage?" Instead, ask
"Why NOT Road Rage?" or "Why Is There No Such
Thing as Fast Enough?"
<http://www.rossde.com/roadrage.html>

[The Bicycling Guitarist]

"David E. Ross" <no****@nowhere.notwrote in message
news:Te******************************@iswest.net.. .

On 7/28/2007 8:10 AM, The Bicycling Guitarist wrote:

>Hi. It has been suggested that I adjust line length in my pages online.

Your Web site displays okay already.

Don't contrive fixed line-widths. That will only annoy users who don't
have windows set to the width you expect.

Also, don't contrive to meet IE. Instead, develop your pages according
to the W3C specifications and the recommendations of the Viewable with
Any Browser Campaign (at
<http://www.anybrowser.org/campaign/index.html>). If IE can't handle
the W3C specifications, that's a Micro$oft problem and not your problem.

--

If three out of four visitors use IE, that makes it my problem whether I
like it or not. I like the idea of max-width being 30em or so. Lines no
longer than 60 or 70 characters are easier to read in any browser. If their
window goes smaller than that, the max width won't kick in. If it gets
bigger, then the lines won't be difficult to read. Dang Microso$t for not
recognizing max width!
--
tbg

[Chris F.A. Johnson]

On 2007-07-28, The Bicycling Guitarist wrote:

Hi. It has been suggested that I adjust line length in my pages online.
Using Google to search for max-width, I have found at least two different
methods to get Internet Explorer to emulate max-width.

My questions are: should I change my margins from 6% (their current value)
to 8% or more? Obviously that will affect everything on the page, not just
lines of text.

If I use max-width, how to implement it. In the css for each class? maybe
some sweeping declaration for all <pin my website?

If I use max-width, which of the Internet Explorer workarounds is the best?

My web site is www.TheBicyclingGuitarist.net The home page isn't a problem
with readability, but there are many pages with text in the site (My Studies
pages for example). Thanks

As someone else said, don't worry about IE. Even without a
max-width, your pages are readable. Long lines are not as bad when
there are ample margins and a good line-height. Increasing the
line-height a little will help.

Do use a max-width (I like 35em) for the benefit of those with
conforming browsers, but don't worry about the rest; the page will
degrade gracefully.

--
Chris F.A. Johnson <http://cfaj.freeshell.org>
================================================== =================
Author:
Shell Scripting Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (2005, Apress)

[The Bicycling Guitarist]

"Chris F.A. Johnson" <cf********@gmail.comwrote in message
news:9j************@xword.teksavvy.com...

On 2007-07-28, The Bicycling Guitarist wrote:

>Hi. It has been suggested that I adjust line length in my pages online.

My web site is www.TheBicyclingGuitarist.net The home page isn't a
problem
with readability, but there are many pages with text in

As someone else said, don't worry about IE. Even without a
max-width, your pages are readable. Long lines are not as bad when
there are ample margins and a good line-height. Increasing the
line-height a little will help.

Do use a max-width (I like 35em) for the benefit of those with
conforming browsers, but don't worry about the rest; the page will
degrade gracefully.

--

thank you Chris. How should I implement the max-width? Would the following
work in the stylesheet?

p { max-width: 35em; }

Would that be a bad idea to declare it for all <p>?

What about the things like class="center" etc. that I have in my stylesheet.
Do I add the max-width to each of those classes in my stylesheet, or would
declaring all <pto have it cover the other classes as well? Sorry if these
are dumb questions.

[Neredbojias]

Well bust mah britches and call me cheeky, on Sat, 28 Jul 2007 23:27:10
GMT The Bicycling Guitarist scribed:

If three out of four visitors use IE, that makes it my problem whether
I like it or not. I like the idea of max-width being 30em or so. Lines
no longer than 60 or 70 characters are easier to read in any browser.
If their window goes smaller than that, the max width won't kick in.
If it gets bigger, then the lines won't be difficult to read. Dang
Microso$t for not recognizing max width!

Ie7 recognizes it (-though still fails at things like "inherit".)

Moderately simple javascript can compensate for ie6.

--
Neredbojias
Half lies are worth twice as much as whole lies.

[Neredbojias]

Well bust mah britches and call me cheeky, on Sun, 29 Jul 2007 04:22:19 GMT
Neredbojias scribed:

Well bust mah britches and call me cheeky, on Sat, 28 Jul 2007 23:27:10
GMT The Bicycling Guitarist scribed:

>If three out of four visitors use IE, that makes it my problem whether
I like it or not. I like the idea of max-width being 30em or so. Lines
no longer than 60 or 70 characters are easier to read in any browser.
If their window goes smaller than that, the max width won't kick in.
If it gets bigger, then the lines won't be difficult to read. Dang
Microso$t for not recognizing max width!

Ie7 recognizes it (-though still fails at things like "inherit".)

Moderately simple javascript can compensate for ie6.

Here's an example of ie6 max-width I whipped up for a couple of reasons.
Just ignore the warning.

http://tinyurl.com/2vwa7k

--
Neredbojias
Half lies are worth twice as much as whole lies.

[Stan Brown]

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 16:27:10 -0700 from The Bicycling Guitarist
<Ch***@TheBicyclingGuitarist.net>:

If three out of four visitors use IE, that makes it my problem whether I
like it or not. I like the idea of max-width being 30em or so.

Two things wrong with that:

1. It's only a problem if you think your pages should look pixel-for-
pixel identical in different browsers. That's a silly goal, as you
well know.

2. Suppose someone's window is narrower than 30em?
--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
HTML 4.01 spec: http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/
validator: http://validator.w3.org/
CSS 2.1 spec: http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/
validator: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
Why We Won't Help You:
http://diveintomark.org/archives/200..._wont_help_you

[John Hosking]

Stan Brown wrote:

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 16:27:10 -0700 from The Bicycling Guitarist
<Ch***@TheBicyclingGuitarist.net>:

>If three out of four visitors use IE, that makes it my problem whether I
like it or not. I like the idea of max-width being 30em or so.

Two things wrong with that:

1. It's only a problem if you think your pages should look pixel-for-
pixel identical in different browsers. That's a silly goal, as you
well know.

He's not talking about identical; he's talking about implementing
max-width functionality (somehow) in a browser which doesn't support
max-width. If only three people worldwide have it (IE), he won't care,
but 75% of his visitors are harder to ignore.

>
2. Suppose someone's window is narrower than 30em?

It's max-width, Stan. MAX-width.
--
John