Computer monitors are oriented horizontally with a 4:3 ratio (1.33:1), thus the familiar screen resolutions of 640*480, 800*600, 1024*768, etc. These resolutions are based on the number of pixels painted on the screen. Text and images based on a specific pixel size (e.g., an image that is 300*500 pixels) will occupy different amounts of a browser window under different resolutions. In order to preview how a page will appear under different resolutions one may open a new browser window whose outside dimensions correspond to that resolution (i.e., to preview how a page will look on a system set to display 800*600, one may open a window whose outside dimensions are 800*600 when utilizing a system with greater resolution). This should be a key area of concern when developing web pages (for strategies for managing various screen widths see Using JavaScript to maintain page borders).
REMINDER: These need to be the outside dimensions of an application window (i.e., the browser window), not the dimensions of the browser's interior content screen.
These utilities are designed to open pre-sized windows based on the dimensions of the outside border of the application window. The generally work well, although in the past there were some limits on what JavaScript would open, and differences between JScript (Microsoft) and JavaScript (the rest of the world); however, using a combination of JScript and JavaScript instructions together (outerwidth and width, outerheight and height), it appears that JavaScript may now be utilized to reliably open windows based on theur outside border dimensions.
(1) These may be a bit unpredictable due to differences in how JavaScript (Netscape) and JScript (Microsoft) implement or fail to implement various parameters; however, they have been tested and perform correctly with Mozilla 1.4 and with Internet Explorer 6.0.
(2) The resolutions above correspond to the following service or technical specification:
| 544x372 | (MSN-TV/NTSC) | |
| 640*480 | (VGA) | |
| 800*600 | (XGA) | |
| 1024*768 | (SVGA) |
With these utilities, it is possible to construct arbitrarilly sized windows with the desired outside dimensions.
With both of these, a window with the designated content area is generated, then a second window is opened and sized to that content area.
When sizing the new window, it should completely cover the content area of the underlying browser window; it should not cover the window borders (top, left, right) or the status bar (at the bottome fo the page), but it should cover the scroll bar(s).
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Copyright © 2004
Steve Sconfienza, Ph.D.
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