[Zope3-dev] Re: [ZWeb] nzo: just for inspiration

[Shane Hathaway]

On Sat, 22 Mar 2003, Steve Alexander wrote:

> 
> > Here is a screenshot:
> > 
> > http://hathaway.freezope.org/Images/alistapart.png
> 
> Thanks.
> I see that the large banner-style logo overflows into the right-hand 
> column and interferes with the text there.

The headline is also partially obscured.

> What would you expect a table-based layout version of the same to do 
> under those circumstances?
> 
> What would your ideal behaviour be under those circumstances?

It should have an automatic minimum width.  When rendered too narrow, a 
horizontal scroll bar should appear.  Horizontal scroll bars are less evil 
than overlapping text.

> That page seems to be designed to be viewed at least as wide as the 
> banner-style logo plus the width of the right-hand column.
> 
> So, that page looks imperfect when viewed in an insufficiently wide browser.
> 
> However, that page will work much better than a tables-based-layout 
> version on a mobile phone/pda, in a text-mode browser, and in a blind 
> person's screen-reader.

The Zope 3 UI needs to solve problems related to regular browsers before
delving into other user agents, since other user agents are currently out
of scope AFAIK.  The Zope 3 UI can't control the width of the center
column.  People will write Zope 3 add-ons that use textareas with 80
columns, for example.  When they do that, should users with not-so-wide
browser windows see overlapping or a horizontal scrollbar?  Overlapping is
quite unprofessional, while a scrollbar is understandable.

> I think the solution in this case is not to use such a wide graphic and 
> fixed-width right-hand column, if the author wants to support skinny 
> browsers :-)

Right.  I'm not saying that page is wrong, since the site was simply not
designed for fewer than about 500 pixels.  But with three columns and
minimal control over the center column, Zope 3 has a looser definition of
"narrow".

Shane