Web site Design Advices [part
2]
- Choose wisely between liquid and fixed layouts
Web designers initially came from a
graphic artist background in print,
where the artist had control over the size and dimensions
of the design. The Web designer has
no control over several factors, especially the width
of the browser window, thus he must consider dynamically
adapting the Web site to the users browser window.
The fixed layout consists in wrapping
the entire Webpage in a fixed width box, essentially
limiting it to an exact pixel value. This is not exactly
correct because it ignores the preferences of the visitors,
who might have the browser sized in a specific way that
they like best, mainly influenced by the resolution
of their screens. That is why some designers recommend
the usage of a liquid layout, where
the size of the Webpage adjusts itself based on the
size of the browser window.
It should also be noted that there is a usability reason
for why a designer may choose a fixed
layout. Studies have shown that there is an
optimal line width in terms of readability. One rule
to appear from such studies is that; lines should be
between 40-60 characters long, approximately 11 words
per line.
The liquid design technique was first
defined by Web designer Glenn
Davis and later popularized
by Web designer Nick Finck. In Nick
Finck 's publication on August
29 1999, Liquid Web Design: Build it right
and it will work no matter what the container ,
says that:
" Glenn Davis once
said, << Webpage building
is a lot like bar tending. Build it right
and it will work no matter what the container>>.
I think he was either very drunk when he said that or
really on to something. Some people consider the Web
to be an information resource while others swear up
and down that it's a form of entertainment. Web
interface design has taken a giant leap in
the past few years from the all-too-haunting gray backgrounds
and bulleted lists to colorful interactive interfaces
and eye-candy. A good Web designer knows
how to blend just the right amount of interface with
information, so that it appears seamless and the navigation
almost transparent to the end user. This is where Davis
's idea of liquid design comes into
play. Through his years of Web development ,
he has come to a conclusion that there are three elements
of interface on the Web today: those
that are Liquid, Jell-O
and Ice [.]"
- Define from the beginning what exactly you will
use: CSS or tables
When Netscape Navigator 4 dominated
the browser market, the only solution available for
designers to lay out a Web page was by using tables.
Often even simple designs for a page would require dozens
of tables nested in each other. Navigator 4
didn't support CSS to a useful
degree, so it simply wasn't used.
After the browser wars were over and Internet
Explorer dominated the market, designers started
turning towards CSS as an alternate,
better means of laying out their pages. CSS
proponents say that tables should only be
used for tabular data, not for layout. Using CSS
instead of tables also returns HTML
to a semantic markup, which helps bots and
search engines understand what's going on in a Web page.
Today, all modern Web browsers, including Netscape
Navigator, now support CSS
- with certain limitations of course.
However, one of the main points against CSS
is that by relying on it exclusively, control
is essentially relinquished as each browser has its
own quirks which result in a slightly different page
display. This is especially a problem as not every browser
support the same subset of CSS codes.
For some designers used to the creating
table-based layouts, developing Web sites
in CSS often becomes a matter of replicating
what can be done with tables, leading some to find CSS
design rather cumbersome. For example, it
has proved rather difficult to produce certain design
elements, such as vertical positioning and
full-length footers in a design
using absolute positions.
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