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The ideal viewport doesn't exist

viewports.fyi

11–20 of 202 posts

Re: The ideal viewport doesn't exist

#11
post #2

> It’s safest to presume that users on desktop or laptop devices are not filling their entire screen with a browser. Not on literally any laptop I've ever seen. I've never seen a screen where the browser _isn't_ filling all space available to them, sometimes even the entire screen (in fullscreen mode on MacOS).

My guess is that filling the entire entire screen is common, especially on laptops that aren't hooked up to a monitor, but not common enough to assume that'll always be the case.

Re: The ideal viewport doesn't exist

#13
post #2

> It’s safest to presume that users on desktop or laptop devices are not filling their entire screen with a browser. Not on literally any laptop I've ever seen. I've never seen a screen where the browser _isn't_ filling all space available to them, sometimes even the entire screen (in fullscreen mode on MacOS).

That's the definition of 'anectodal evidence' though. The nice thing of desktop environments is that people (still) have enough freedom to organize windows the way they want without a platform owner telling them what's "best for them".

Re: The ideal viewport doesn't exist

#14
post #2

> It’s safest to presume that users on desktop or laptop devices are not filling their entire screen with a browser. Not on literally any laptop I've ever seen. I've never seen a screen where the browser _isn't_ filling all space available to them, sometimes even the entire screen (in fullscreen mode on MacOS).

For general browsing, that's often the case, but for solving tasks, I often see people using the "snap to side" feature in Windows. It means you can view two windows side-by-side without faffing around dragging window sides around, and it's really useful if you're trying to cross-reference data on a smaller screen.

Although I think that sentence would probably be better written "It's safest not to presume [...]", as in, don't make assumptions about screen sizes here.

Re: The ideal viewport doesn't exist

#15
> "The main point we’re trying to get across is that you simply do not know how users are going to visit your website or web app. Instead of making design decisions on strict, limited breakpoints, keep in mind the sheer amount of fragmentation there is in viewports."

I don't know how useful this is.

setting breakpoints allows some sanity in the build and testing process otherwise you have an infinite scope for issues which of course would be pretty lucrative for a boutique agency.

> "This goes all the way back to planning your projects too. When mapping out page content, ask yourself how it will be for the weird viewport sizes that don’t fit the typical mould? Always try to simplify and condense content to make it useful for everyone."

it's really not that complicated. keep the amount of crap (stuff that can go wrong) like animations, weird font sizes and font faces, javascript to a minimum. and dont do stuff like hijacking the scroll, zoom or other common behaviours. just dont do anything unless you absolutely have to.

but thats why the web is such a hostile platform. difficult to manage high user/client expectations with pragmatism.

Re: The ideal viewport doesn't exist

#18
post #2

> It’s safest to presume that users on desktop or laptop devices are not filling their entire screen with a browser. Not on literally any laptop I've ever seen. I've never seen a screen where the browser _isn't_ filling all space available to them, sometimes even the entire screen (in fullscreen mode on MacOS).

Its a Mac user thing, they have a collage of overlapping randomly shaped windows splayed everywhere. Windows users tend to just maximise their programs or snap them when needing to multitask.

Gnome pushes users to fullscreen programs too, with a quick mouse twitch to get the overview open to switch programs.

Re: The ideal viewport doesn't exist

#19
post #9
post #2

> It’s safest to presume that users on desktop or laptop devices are not filling their entire screen with a browser. Not on literally any laptop I've ever seen. I've never seen a screen where the browser _isn't_ filling all space available to them, sometimes even the entire screen (in fullscreen mode on MacOS).

I believe the intention of that statement is to not assume that it's filling the entire screen, that is, not to count on it in some manner. A lot of people still make this mistake one way or another. In about the last year I finally gave up; my tiling window manager used to have the browser at 2/3rds the screen with the remaining 1/3 a terminal, but more and more I've been encountering websites that are very unhappy…

I’ve noticed similar annoyances lately browsing sites on my 4K displays set to 200% scaling and positioned vertically. Sites tend not to work or look their best at 1080px wide anymore.

It almost makes me nostalgic for 960px being the defacto standard width for desktop sites.

Re: The ideal viewport doesn't exist

#20
post #5

I wish more pages took the pointer and resolution media queries into account. So many times I open windows side-by-side on my desktop and end up with the menu collapsing into a hamburger menu which fills the entire screen when clicked. Many phones today have very high DPI and very low precision in touch, so it makes sense to have massive visual elements and buttons, but my desktop with the same size in pixels as my p…

This is an interesting observation. Do you have some examples of this?
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