By Erin Hayes
I am a web master for www.whatsupgold.com, a site where we let users try, buy, and learn more about the popular network management software. Our main audience are Network Administrators, their bosses, and other IT Folks.
I want to poll other web designers and web developers on how they prefer to layout their web sites. We are in the process of launching a new site in early May that will be wider than the current site (optimized for 1024 x 768, versus the current 800 x 600), but will still include a fixed width layout. I decided to go with the fixed width for a few reasons, with the primary reason being – HTML pages are easier to manage.
What have others found as the main advantages/disadvantages of creating a site with fixed as opposed to liquid width?
Are most web geeks-masters-gods moving to a 1024 x 768 or higher resolution? In our research, we found that 99+% of our audience uses 1024 x 768 or HIGHER screen resolution, hence the switch to the higher resolution.
Therefore, I am using a fixed width of 960 pixels. I chose 960 since it is easily divisible by 3, 4, etc., and it easily fits in a browser width of 1024 with room to spare.
Your comments are most certainly welcome.
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I still stick with fixed width simply because it just makes prettier looking sites. Sure, there are sites out there that are fluid, but for the most part fluid layouts tend to look boring and sparse. Digg kinda has a kinda half fluid / half fixed layout that is kinda cool. It has a max-width of 1200px and a defined sidebar width of 300px then the rest is fluid. I think with my next layout I may try their technique out and see where it gets me.
[...] fixed web design versus liquid layouts to get a perfect layout for the most popular browser size. read more | digg [...]
I prefer fixed styles over fluid/liquid sites. I prefer this because it tends to be a lot better looking. Some sites do a mix of both, and it works for them because it’s a news site with ever changing front-page. (Talking about Digg here.)
But for a business site, that doesn’t change a thousand times/day, a fixed height/width would be ideal. It would also be cleaner, and easier to manage in the long run.
As long as you keep the site clean, and not fluttered with a bunch of stuff, like side bars, and new posts all over the places, it will be just fine for your needs. 1024×768 is the best idea for now, as the only people I know who still display at 8×9 are old people, and people with old tech. Hardly business/IT professionals whom probably surf on 12×8(laptops), 14×9(19″wide), or 1280×1024(19″square) screens.