web/design/course - Page size & layout

Hi Stephen,

It all depends on the type of information you have on your site.

A simple 10-20 page web site with static information may be better suited to a nice 720pixel fixed width, whereas a site like ours with lots of pages, we stretch to 100%.

You also have to consider your audience. An older generation may have older computers, and only 800x600 res. Whereas a younger audience may have more modern computers and be fine with 1280x1027 res.

And of course your design. If you're doing a complicated design with lots of nice graphics, it may determine whether you stretch or use fixed width.

It used to be the standard to design your page so it would look good and be readable to people using 800x600 res. However, looking at a lot of stats indicate that most people have converted to at least 1024x768. Keep in mind people have different layouts on their computer, and you have to allow for things like the scroll bar. So if you are having a fixed width, take off a hundred pixels or so. Eg. if designing for a 1024x768 res. you could have a 900pixel fixed width site.

You can also just have a stretched site at say 100%, and let the text flow all the way through. Or split the page into 2 or 3 columns. Remember the user can resize their browser window and adjust their window width to accommodate.

Test your site in all screen resolutions, of course.

Also look into using CSS to design your site (div tags with classes for each). Table design is the 'old way', and you have much more flexibility for the future if you use CSS layout. Simple example here. Also better for a number of reasons. We haven't switched to CSS yet, though! Bit different when you've already got an established site.

To answer your specific question 'can i design the pages so that every one view 100% of the page', yes. Use a CSS style with width=100% or if using table layout, insert a table with width=100%, then insert all your information/data into cells within that div or table.