Page Dimensions
 Statistics for web browsers over the past year show a clear trend: the old 640 x 480 pixel screen display is nearly a thing of the past. In July 2004, less than 1 percent of visitors to the BU home page were using a screen display 640 x 480 or smaller. With these recent trends in mind, the BU Core Design uses a web page optimized for the larger standard screen display of 800 x 600. Taking into account scroll bars and browser border windows, the BU Core Design utilizes a width of 760 pixels.
Spacing and Alignment
Title Bar and Image Bar: These elements have been designed to allow sufficient neutral space to allow the elements breathing room while keeping images large enough to be interesting and engaging. Equal space is used between images in the Image Bar to achieve both horizontal and vertical symmetry.
Primary Navigation Bar: Links representing the major information categories on a site may be centered under -- and associated with -- a graphic in the Image Bar, or may be spaced evenly across the entire page width if they do not correlate to images.
Secondary Navigation Bar: Featuring a "tab"-like design element, the left side of the tab
can be extended left to accommodate as many as 4 to
5 links. The right side of the right-most link aligns with the
right margin of the content region.
Content Region and Content Navigation: These regions follow the left and right page margins established by the Image Bar. Padding at the top,
left and bottom of the content region
(dictated by the style sheet) allows sufficient white space to keep the content area neat and organized.
BU Help Bar and Page Signature: These components remain consistent on all BU Core Design pages. The left edge of the BU Logo and the Page Signature aligns with the established left edge of the Content Region, Image Bar, and Title Bar. The right margin in the BU Help Bar follows the right alignment established in the Secondary Nav Bar, Image Bar, and Content Navigation region. |
