new designs with added width

Any previous visitors will notice something of a redesign which is pretty much finished – although no doubt their will be a few tweaks over the coming weeks as time permits.

The main reason was to bring in a liquid design that will allow more space – something I’m quite fond of as an idea.

The default for web pages, before we add any styles, is a liquid layout – where the site content fills the window whatever the width. This should be ideal for everyone, whatever resolution or monitor (or device) screen size. Why then do a great deal of sites use a fixed width design, my previous design included?

Design expediancy seems to me to be the main culprit in my view. Not always I’ll admit – lots of blog style sites use a fixed width centered column in order to get a readable number of words per line (whether they know it or not), which was my original excuse I’ll admit. For most designers, and most people, it’s simply easier to think in terms of thinks that dont change. Using percentages (in a liquid layout) or em’s (in a elastic layout) simply takes a bit of getting your head round.

It’s the web, not print, and that is something that from my experience (second hand I’ll admit) is something that isn’t drilled home on the majority of university or college courses.

Attractive header graphics is something that lots of sites, in particular commercial sites, employ – and with good reasons. It’s a great way of getting across a brand ethos in an attractive and eye catching manner. It’s also sometimes used as an excuse to use a fixed width design – the question is why? Try resizing windows and text on www.vivabit.com, www.thebgroup.co.uk or www.capgemini.com .

One outstanding issue I see is using Flash in a similar way. With broadband usage, especially amongst companies, on the up and up, using Flash (and video) in a similar way becomes increasingly more attractive. So something I’m going to have a look at is how Flash and either unobtrusive javascript or sliding doors techniques can be used to get the cake (attractive, flexible layouts which use Flash – without breaking the layout) and eat it. More soon.