Comments on: Fixed vs. Liquid Layouts

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:06:19 +0000

@Giuseppe, To each their own…

By: Giuseppe

Giuseppe — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:54:14 +0000

Io sono per i layout fluidi, anche se non disprezzo affatto quelli fissi. L’effetto degli stessi, e la loro utilit� varia di caso in caso a seconda dei siti web e dei loro contenuti. In general, per un CMS preferisco assolutamente un layout fluido. E’ la soluzione migliore. Ciao

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:30:25 +0000

@Baz, Good advice.

By: Baz L

Baz L — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:41:06 +0000

You can’t please everyone all the time. So I say, for what ever project you’re working on, find your target audience and shoot for that. If you’re talking about technology and you’re shooting for a nice Web 2.0 layout; it should be safe to aim for wider.If you’re site talks about the benefits of long term life insurance, diabetes meds, prescription glasses, etc. you might was to slim it down to 800×600.A site that tries to cater to everyone (more times that not) finds that it gets stretched too thing (pun intended :))

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:32:12 +0000

@Baz, I know what you mean…

By: Baz L

Baz L — Tue, 27 May 2008 06:42:25 +0000

I tend to be rather selfish on this one. It’s hard enough to get things to line up right on a fixed width, when we’re talking about different browsers.In order to do a fluid width right, it’s just too much hassle. It’s much deeper than changing widths from pixels to percentages.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 21 May 2008 20:39:35 +0000

Yep. It may not be a fully fixed design (like Webmaster-Source), but it’s not fully liquid either. The way I see it, fully liquid layouts are where the whole thing stretches relative to the browser, and liquid elements are stretchy parts of a larger layout that is mainly fixed. Your site is a prime example of that. At least, that’s how I think of it.

By: Michael Martin

Michael Martin — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:26:23 +0000

Matt,I never thought of my header like that before! I always just considered it a background detail. That’s a good point. I’m definitely fond of tyling background like that, so I suppose there can be room for a little liquidity in any design.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:54:10 +0000

@Michael, I agree with you on that. Generally I prefer fixed layouts, except in a few cases. Though I find that some liquid elements are good, like your header on Pro Blog Design, the way it always fills 100% of the screen width.

By: Michael Martin

Michael Martin — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:05:10 +0000

I think liquid layouts are just too much hassle in most cases. There are so many different possibilities that you have to account for (All the things you listed!), that by the time you’ve taken care of them all, your design rarely looks its best on any of them!I’m happy to go with a fixed-width layout almost every time. It gives me complete control over the design for the vast majority of users, and so long as it is still reasonably good for the rest, then there’s nothing to worry about.