Comparison tables

[Jojoyee]

Originally Posted by Bob

For basic text descriptions of different products I really liked the layout you used for 20 Places To Look For Free Wallpapers. I think that's a very valuable option.

Thanks Bob, that consists of a table with 3 columns with dynamic width 5%, 30% and 65% for column 1, 2 and 3 respectively (such as below). Still OK for a simple table with about 3-5 columns. It will be too narrow if more columns are added.

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td width="5%">cell 1</td>
			<td width="30%">cell 2</td>
			<td width="65%">cell 3</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>cell 3</td>
			<td>cell 4</td>
			<td>cell 6</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

For those who are interested in table codes, HTML.net provides good and simple examples here.

[Bob]

Originally Posted by Jojoyee

Thanks Bob, that consists of a table with 3 columns with dynamic width 5%, 30% and 65% for column 1, 2 and 3 respectively

Thanks for that Jojo - I guess I could just use your page layout as a template (when I get there...)

[PsychEroc]

Originally Posted by Jojoyee

For a table of 8 columns, you'll need at least 800 pixels if 100 pixels per column is needed, that will go beyond the white background.

If necessary to present all the data, would it be ok to go beyond the white background?

[Jojoyee]

Originally Posted by PsychEroc

If necessary to present all the data, would it be ok to go beyond the white background?

I believe that should be ok, except that it doesn't appear nice for a table going beyond the white background. Again that can be changed if a user changes the default Tech theme to other theme, such as Garland - Fluid Width, which has a wider white background and makes full use of the wide screen. (The theme can be configured via "My Account" -> "Edit" -> "Theme Configuration" after logging in to the TSA site.)

But should we consider to make the default theme to base on dynamic/fluid width setting as now the wider LCD screen is the trend?

[chris.p]

Jojo, it's very hard to get many templates to look perfect on a wide screen - some look ridiculous. Also there is a possibility that the design will crash.

However you can always point people toward the fluid template option I guess, then they could take their chance. We might even be able to find a way to get a simple template change button at the top of the page (this is done in some CMS).

Big tables are a risky move because there are some circumstances when they may not display at all. What about on a 10" screen netbook? What about on a mobile device?

Would you like to test those out?

Coding sites for mobiles is really tough, much stricter than for normal sites - tons of accessibility issues that you can't just shrug off like we might do on a normal site. Lots of talk about mobiles getting big but I hope that never happens - coding for that is tough. We may have to go back to HTML pages. Aaaarrghhh.

[Jojoyee]

In a case where a big comparison table is necessary, a link to open up a new window independent of the CMS, I think, is definitely a good choice (ah, what's the progress for a way to upload an html page to our own site?). Of cource, it's better if a big table can be avoided, though there're other resources like Wiki uses quite a lot of comparison tables, some are big.

I do use my mobile phone to browse when I'm on the move. My preferred mobile browser is Opera Mini. Whatever that can be viewed on a PC, I view it from the mobile with no issue. Navigation to a part of the page to view helps easily.