Why Aren’t Browsers Automatically Optimized for Smaller Screens?

http://www.youtube.com/v/BYtYTGu1tag&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1

jkkmobile has a nice little five-minute vid that helps netbook owners optimize their browser for small, low-resolution screens. Even though there are a number of plug-ins to do this in Firefox, he does this without any such add-ons. He’s just intelligently using the native settings and options to maximize the browsing area and it’s a great walk through for folks that might not know about these settings. But after I watched it, a thought came to mind. Maybe even a challenge to the folks at Microsoft, Mozilla, and Opera just to name a few. Here’s what I’m thinking…

Why aren’t the browser developers truly acknowledging the tens of millions (and growing) of netbooks out there? As jkkmobile proved, there are plenty of native settings that can be optimized for smaller displays. Tech savvy users likely know about the tweaks like small icons, moving browser buttons, and hiding toolbars. But what about the non-techie folks that simply aren’t aware of such settings? I’d bet there’s a huge overlap between this audience and netbook owners. There’s likely probably more non-geeks that own a low-cost netbook than folks like us that live, eat and breathe this stuff.

So why can’t we use the browser and the computer together in a more intelligent way on these devices? I’m thinking of a few “display preset” profiles that already have these optimizations enabled. Maybe even have an option that adjusts the browser settings based on the device display resolution. I don’t know if there are any hooks between browser and OS that could pass the screen resolution value to browser, but I’d love to see it.

Now I wouldn’t want these proposed profiles to be hardened into stone. Personal computing is personal and should always be so. I’m simply trying to come up with a better starting point; one that could be further customized, enabled or disabled. It shouldn’t be a plug-in either. This should be a native function of the browser to have it adopt a little more to the device being used. Is it just me or does this sound potentially useful?

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