I went to Manchester Metropolitan University to a day long event hosted by the Department of Information and Communications in conjunction with the BSC in Web Development. The day was organised by Richard Elskins who started teaching web design back in 1996.
“Mathematics is beautiful.” This may sound absurd to people who wince at numbers and equations. But some of the most beautiful things in nature and our universe exhibit mathematical properties, from the smallest seashell to the biggest whirlpool galaxies. In fact, one of the greatest ancient philosophers, Aristotle, said: “The mathematical sciences particularly exhibit order, symmetry and limitation; and these are the greatest forms of the beautiful.”
This debate has gone on out there amongst web developers and user interface designers for some time. There are various issues that crop up when discussing this, but, generally, we should leave the user to control how links open but allowing then to use their browser as they prefer.
Yes, I have now updated this site to make better use of browser width.
Designed for a browser of at least 1024 pixels wide. Kinder on the eye and a few subtle changes to the layout and banner. Nothing dramatic, but freshened up a bit.