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Dynamic web page reformatting -- server-side
or client-side?
Some of our web sites have been reformatted
using server-side scripting, while others
(including this site) have been reformatted
using client-side programming.
Many web sites are not reformatted at all, and this
means that the web designer must choose the final
image and text sizes with great care. One reason is that
images and text which appear small on a high resolution monitor
seem huge on a low resolution monitor.
It is true that the designer can use relative font sizes, but
the unfortunate fact is that the vast majority of the
population does not know how to resize the fonts
on their computer, as simple as that is to do.
The advantage of server-side reformatting is that
you do not have to deal with various client-side
implementations and versions of the programming language
itself. For example, Netscape Navigator has not
fully implemented the Document Object Model as set forth
by the World Wide Web Consortium. Hence, much of
the programming that went into reformatting this site does
not work for persons using that browser.
The advantage of client-side programming is that it
can be faster to execute, depending on the action taken.
Another advantage is that it can be ported to a new host more easily
as it does not require server-side application support on that host.
In the case where the client lacks the client-side processing
capability, it is important to be sure that the site still is
reasonable, if not optimal, in appearance and functionality.
This can be accomplished by using good default settings or, failing that,
by switching to server-side processing instead.
Generally, we use a combination of both. We use
client-side programming to detect parameters on
the client platform which determine which stylesheet is
loaded to create font sizes.
Server-side scripting is used to resize images and
to code for browser and operating system
incompatibilities. It is also
possible to choose different color schemes to handle the
inherent differences between PC's and Apple computers.
(Apple computers render colors lighter than PC's.)
The method we chose for a given customer depends upon
the structure of the site and the resources available for
development. Site reformatting costs more than
the development of simple static sites, but is highly
effective for maintaining a consistent look and feel
across client platforms.
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