Supportsoft Glossary

Device Dimensions Impacting UI Layouts

The size of the screen can be defined as the amount of physical space available to view and read information contained in digital form. There are now more devices than ever that allow users to view web pages or mobile applications on many different types of devices, including mobile phones, tablets, laptops, desktop computers, and even large, high-definition televisions. Therefore, this means that designers should be aware of the wide range of screen sizes so that their projects can provide the same user experiences regardless of what type of device that they are being viewed through.

Different sizes of screens can also create different user expectations. For example, mobile device screens tend to require clarity and simplicity in design and content presentation. In contrast, larger monitors (i.e., desktops) allow for more complicated layouts to be presented. With today’s design and development practices using responsive and adaptive technologies, each project will come with dynamic adjustments to its content and layout based upon how much available space there is to display that project. Dynamic adjustments to the user experience will avoid common pitfalls of content overlapping, cropping, or hard-to-find navigation.

Performance and accessibility also rely on the ability of a project to adapt to different sizes of screens. In addition, planning for a range of screen sizes at the time of initial design allows a business to provide a polished and consistent experience regardless of which device the user is using to view the content.