Comments on: Google Browser Size: Drawn By Five-Year-Olds http://www.htmlist.com/design/google-browser-size-drawn-by-five-year-olds/ A Web Development Blog by Synapse Studios Sun, 05 Feb 2012 02:47:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Tobias http://www.htmlist.com/design/google-browser-size-drawn-by-five-year-olds/comment-page-1/#comment-333 Tobias Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:50:58 +0000 http://www.htmlist.com/?p=505#comment-333 I'm fairly certain those lines aren't "hand-drawn". These are contour lines, breaking down page areas into the percentage of users that will see this part of the page without scrolling. Since there's a lot of variation in sizes of things like scrollbars and toolbars, it's not surprising at all that these contours are not rectangular. Think about all the users that have a slightly thinner or slightly shorter browser window, the bottom right corner is not going to be visible for as many people, since either a too narrow window or a too short window will hide it. This is a key aspect of the data, and straightening out the lines for aesthetic reasons would be misrepresenting it. I’m fairly certain those lines aren’t “hand-drawn”. These are contour lines, breaking down page areas into the percentage of users that will see this part of the page without scrolling. Since there’s a lot of variation in sizes of things like scrollbars and toolbars, it’s not surprising at all that these contours are not rectangular. Think about all the users that have a slightly thinner or slightly shorter browser window, the bottom right corner is not going to be visible for as many people, since either a too narrow window or a too short window will hide it. This is a key aspect of the data, and straightening out the lines for aesthetic reasons would be misrepresenting it.

]]> By: Chris Cardinal http://www.htmlist.com/design/google-browser-size-drawn-by-five-year-olds/comment-page-1/#comment-328 Chris Cardinal Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:28:13 +0000 http://www.htmlist.com/?p=505#comment-328 You know, that's something we were just discussing in the office, and it's actually likely the case. I still disagree with this presentation as a way of demonstrating those sizes—if you're going to group screen resolutions into percentiles, why not group very similar resolutions to smooth out the curve and generate usable lines? You know, that’s something we were just discussing in the office, and it’s actually likely the case. I still disagree with this presentation as a way of demonstrating those sizes—if you’re going to group screen resolutions into percentiles, why not group very similar resolutions to smooth out the curve and generate usable lines?

]]> By: Alpheus Winterborne http://www.htmlist.com/design/google-browser-size-drawn-by-five-year-olds/comment-page-1/#comment-327 Alpheus Winterborne Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:53:28 +0000 http://www.htmlist.com/?p=505#comment-327 How do you know the lines are hand-rendered? The level sets of the data may actually look like that. How do you know the lines are hand-rendered? The level sets of the data may actually look like that.

]]> By: Chris Cardinal http://www.htmlist.com/design/google-browser-size-drawn-by-five-year-olds/comment-page-1/#comment-326 Chris Cardinal Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:38:36 +0000 http://www.htmlist.com/?p=505#comment-326 It's a clear and conscious decision to draw ugly, hand-rendered lines instead of just making them rectangular. I was critiquing the style and utility, since it would've required just as much effort to deliver a proper, useful tool. "Labs" and "Beta" shouldn't be a free pass for terrible software, and it's usually not—they do a damn good job keeping up the aesthetic and the functionality of even their beta releases. There was no compelling reason to make this functionally ugly, which was my primary issue. It’s a clear and conscious decision to draw ugly, hand-rendered lines instead of just making them rectangular. I was critiquing the style and utility, since it would’ve required just as much effort to deliver a proper, useful tool. “Labs” and “Beta” shouldn’t be a free pass for terrible software, and it’s usually not—they do a damn good job keeping up the aesthetic and the functionality of even their beta releases.

There was no compelling reason to make this functionally ugly, which was my primary issue.

]]> By: Post Smythe http://www.htmlist.com/design/google-browser-size-drawn-by-five-year-olds/comment-page-1/#comment-325 Post Smythe Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:24:58 +0000 http://www.htmlist.com/?p=505#comment-325 Yeah, horrible... How dare Google release a free semi-working tool to help people understand the differences in monitor resolutions/bowser sizes. Google should be ashamed of themselves for letting something like this out. Dude, you should probably chill out a bit. I doubt the overlay image was drawn for accuracy. Considering it's a labs product, the first go around is buggy. Remember the first version of Gmail? I believe the general idea for this was to give web developers/designers a rough estimate of how the rest of the world views their site. If you're looking for precision data on user bowser sizes, go to the next SES conference, there are plenty of vendors to SELL you products that do just that. Yeah, horrible…

How dare Google release a free semi-working tool to help people understand the differences in monitor resolutions/bowser sizes. Google should be ashamed of themselves for letting something like this out.

Dude, you should probably chill out a bit. I doubt the overlay image was drawn for accuracy. Considering it’s a labs product, the first go around is buggy. Remember the first version of Gmail? I believe the general idea for this was to give web developers/designers a rough estimate of how the rest of the world views their site.

If you’re looking for precision data on user bowser sizes, go to the next SES conference, there are plenty of vendors to SELL you products that do just that.

]]> By: Jeremy Lindblom http://www.htmlist.com/design/google-browser-size-drawn-by-five-year-olds/comment-page-1/#comment-324 Jeremy Lindblom Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:38:07 +0000 http://www.htmlist.com/?p=505#comment-324 You're right, that is completely terrible. If it wasn't for the wonderful display of translucent colors keeping me complacent, I would have cried. You’re right, that is completely terrible. If it wasn’t for the wonderful display of translucent colors keeping me complacent, I would have cried.

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