Thursday, December 17, 2009

Google Tool to Check How Much of a Page Appears in Typical Browsers

The Google Labs feature a new little tool called Google Browser Size. It just visualizes roughly how much of a page typical users (or more specifically, the users of Google) will actually see without scrolling. Just the browser client size is taken into account, and not the browser window (which include toolbars etc.), Google says. This tool can help you, for instance, to adjust positioning of an important navigation element, if you find that a big percentage of visitors might not see it directly upon page load.

Be aware the tool can be misleading on web pages with dynamically positioned content (such as this blog, as it will position the navigation area to the left depending on the browser width).

If you wonder how Google did this, it looks like a two-frame set up – navigation and content – where the bottom content frame itself is 100% filled with an iframe, which in turn loads the external page. Then in the bottom frame there will be a couple of white semi-transparent div’s overlaying that iframe. Interesting idea I think!

[Thanks Hebbet and Steffi]

Google Tool to Check How ... by Philipp Lenssen | Comments (6+7)

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