Is 640x480 Resolution Dead Now?

General Discussion
1

I’m sure you all know resolutions can be a bit of an issue when developing Applications or Web Developing. I’m well aware of the 1024x768 resolution being the high normal and anything over that is enhanced. 800x600 resolutions are still common as well especially in office settings where the PC’s are being used for work tasks instead of high end entertainment.

What I’m not sure about is the 640x480 resolution. I read an article that stated, the 640x480 resolution is not dead. That may be more true when it comes to applications, but I’m not sure about Web Development.

Most websites on the internet now will detect your resolution and fetch up an altered scale version of itself in order to fit within your resolution. That alone makes Web Developing a pain in the four legged donkey.

The work I’m doing now includes a 1280x1024, 1024x768 and will include a 800x600 resolution (will start the 800x tomorrow). I’m just wondering… Should I even bother with the 640x resolution?

What are the odds of someone out there in the world still using a 640x480 desktop space? I know some office PC’s have that resolution but even in an office setting, the 800x600 is more common.

I really don’t want to waste time with the 640x, but I feel like all hell will break loose if I don’t include it within my current task.

Opinions, please…

2

For web design, typically you would take a look at your target audience and what type of monitor they will have. You could try searching for data, for example take a look at the Valve hardware survey results.

If you are targeting gamers, it would probably be safe to assume they have at least a 1024 pixel width display. Design your site for that resolution and have it align to the center, for example like Panda’s forum. This way it will work on a 1024 resolution and anything wider also. If someone has a lower resolution display, they are probably used to seeing horizontal scroll bars on every website they visit anyways.

If you are targeting an extremely wide audience of people who might have very old hardware, for example a government website, you would want to design your site at the lowest possible resolution.

For games, you will be looking at different aspect ratios, not resolutions. Usually 4:3, 16:9, and 16:10.

3

There are smart phones and tablets out there. 800x480 (or 480x800 when sideways) and 1024x600 are common for 7 inch displays.

…but if we are talking about Panda3D that has no android/iphone port, then anything under 800x600 for games or game-like applications is not worth the time.

…if this is about websites then let me just say I write this post on a 320 x 240 screen.

4

Sounds like you’re using some form of hand device… My sister was able to display my current work as if she was at her laptop.

I detected her device and it returned as:

5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.5; en-us; N860 Build/GINGERBREAD) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1

I only have a car phone, no cell, so I can’t really get into the thick of developing for the hand helds. What I will do instead is, create a text based menu system for hand held detections.

Not everyone has an I-pad (or kindle) type hand held which can show content as if you’re at a PC screen. I figured the best thing to do is use the key-pad (like on a cell-phone) as access keys and create a text based menu system which will allow the user to do some basic stuff (all other major stuff like server gaming will have to be done on a laptop or desktop).

I use JavaScript for client side and python for the server side. In fact, I use very little JavaScript because not only do I hate that scripting language (it’s easily broken), the power of python on the server side gives me endless power. :slight_smile:

If anyone is willing to test my development on a cell-phone in the future, I will appreciate it greatly. I’m sure you will find my development a place to call home. :laughing:

PS,

IE-6 is so broken. My work will show correctly in IE6 and older, but the centering is broken, so anything over the native resolution of 1280 will align left. All other browsers and IE7+ are GTG.

If you google IE6, you will find that a lot of developers have experienced the IE6 pain. I’m just glad IE6 is almost dead now. I will never bother with IE6 and older again! :unamused:

5

I had an extra PC I was going to use as an IM server, but decided to use it as a Mail Sever instead. I did not want to create an IM program for the Main Server, plus I did not want an application which need to be installed; hard drive or browser wise.

So, instead of going with IM, I went with the next best thing which I like to call “LPM.”

The GUI is not complete nor is the code, but the basic function is working. (I’m designing for connection speed as you can see)

LPM stands for “Live Private Message”, but could just as well stand for “Live Posting Messages.”

What I’ve done was allow a user to create a virtual room by becoming the Host. As the Host you can send out invites to other members. An invited member will be alerted if they’re logged into their account.

The Invited member can accept or decline the invitation. When inside the LPM room, you can see everyone that’s involved in the session along the bottom of the screen. If someone leaves the LPM room, goes AFK or gets kicked out, it will be known by everyone in the LPM room.

When posting a message, you have two choices; you can post for everyone to see or you can send a whisper directly to another LPM member.

The LPM panel works with you. That is…the LPM panel will update all messages and LPM status on its own; this happens when the user is not typing or reading a message. The logic behind that wasn’t too tricky.

I don’t know if anything like this has been done before (I’m sure it has), but it’s like posting messages here at the P3D forums accept, you can see the other people and the messages are happening right at the moment (almost in real time).

It’s not IM but feels very close to it and my goal of having no applications or browser plug-ins to install was reached. It will probably take me another week or so to get it all nice and clean.

I know some of you are probably developing Websites for your P3D applications and thought this might be a cool idea to mention.

PS,

The Max LPM members is seven per room (counting the Host).

800, 1024 and 1280+ resolutions will be supported. I will not work with 640x resolutions; besides, my monitor doesn’t even have 640x (800 is lowest).

640x is going dead…just like IE6 (unless you’re talking hand helds).