client side screen resolution

[Sandy Pittendrigh]

I have a fishing related site with a billion photos,
where 600 pixels as a maximum photo width looks OK
at both low resolution and high resolution,
but spectacular in neither. Browser stats sites
say 37% of all users still use 800x600 resolution.
So if you have a site you have to deal with that issue
somehow.
But compromises piss me off.

The pages you make (as php developer) could
use client-side javascript to detect the local
screen resolution. Then, theoretically, you could
send an Ajax message back to the server, to set
a session variable, so all subsequent requests
could be either dynamically generated, with differing
image sizes, or you could, maybe, use url-rewriting
to redirect to the right static html (with differing
image sizes).

But that's got a hidden catch22. Because the 37% of
all users who still use 800x600 resolution probably won't
have browsers that can deal with Ajax requests.

Has anybody ever figured out how to optimize image
sizes for different screen resolutions?

[Gerry Vandermaesen]

Why not, muck like Flickr, display a low-res friendly version by
default, and providing a link to see all available resolutions?

Or, let the user specify his preference, and store it in a user profile
if your sites lets users authenticate, or in a cookie if not, and fetch
the right version.

Sandy Pittendrigh wrote:

I have a fishing related site with a billion photos,
where 600 pixels as a maximum photo width looks OK
at both low resolution and high resolution,
but spectacular in neither. Browser stats sites
say 37% of all users still use 800x600 resolution.
So if you have a site you have to deal with that issue
somehow.
But compromises piss me off.

The pages you make (as php developer) could
use client-side javascript to detect the local
screen resolution. Then, theoretically, you could
send an Ajax message back to the server, to set
a session variable, so all subsequent requests
could be either dynamically generated, with differing
image sizes, or you could, maybe, use url-rewriting
to redirect to the right static html (with differing
image sizes).

But that's got a hidden catch22. Because the 37% of
all users who still use 800x600 resolution probably won't
have browsers that can deal with Ajax requests.

Has anybody ever figured out how to optimize image
sizes for different screen resolutions?

[no-1]

One thing you will want to consider - I would almost bet that those
that use 800x600 are also still on dialup - as more than 50% of
internet users are... and higher resolution pics mean LOTS of download
time.

So, you really have 2 things to worry about. Screen resolution and
whether or not they want to take the time to download a high-res pic
before they give up and go somewhere else...

[Karl Groves]

Sandy Pittendrigh <za******************@zapGmail.com> wrote in
news:GZ********************@bresnan.com:

But that's got a hidden catch22. Because the 37% of
all users who still use 800x600 resolution probably won't
have browsers that can deal with Ajax requests.

You're ignoring the ultimate Catch-22: That just because someone has a
resolution setting of a certain size, doesn't mean they're USING it. I have
1600x1080 resolution. I have two windows open side-by-side most of the
time. If you're going to go this route, don't detect the resolution,
detect the window size.
--
Karl Groves
http://karlcore.com
http://chevelle.karlcore.com

Accessibility Discussion List: http://smallerurl.com/?id=6p764du

[John Dunlop]

Karl Groves:

You're ignoring the ultimate Catch-22: That just because someone has a
resolution setting of a certain size, doesn't mean they're USING it. I have
1600x1080 resolution. I have two windows open side-by-side most of the
time.

Not to piss the original poster off, but let's follow that argument
even further. Just because someone has a window of certain dimensions
doesn't mean the viewport has the same dimensions. Toolbars, status
bars, menubars, etc., all can take up room within a window, reducing
the space available to the viewport.

Besides, what if there's no windows? Or what if the window is
resized? Or what if the browser renders the page in nonspatial
dimensions, for instance, an aural browser (still perfectly reasonable
for reading image-based web pages)?

--
Jock

[Sidonath]

As for Ajax part of question. Don't use it :)

You can use JS to detect window size
(http://www.quirksmode.org/viewport/compatibility.html) and store
information in a cookie using JS. On next page request you can read
cookie in PHP. It is more probable that user has enabled cookies than
Ajax-supporting browser.

[Sandy.Pittendrigh]

Sometimes the simplest solution is so close to your nose
you can't see it.