Liquid versus Fixed Layouts

Ensio Matthews    – Phoenix, AZ
123Triad: Web Design & SEO Company

Liquid versus Fixed Layouts

To the average internet user, the type of layout you choose does not even feature in their decision whether or not to visit, stay on, or return to your site.

Chances are, they will not even know what you have chosen, and their only concern is that the information they receive is relevant, and that your site is easy to navigate and read. However, behind the scenes, the choice between liquid and fixed layouts makes a very big impact on exactly that!

Fixed Width Layouts

Fixed width layouts remain the size that they are designed, regardless of the browser they are viewed on.

They do not alter textual or graphic elements regardless of the width of the browser, which has a set of pros and cons:

Pros:

•    There is no alteration to scan length of text elements, meaning they remain easy to read (if designed correctly) regardless of the browser.
•    Graphic elements, when viewed on a small monitor, and incorporated into a fixed width layout, will not over power text.
•    Some browsers are designed to display fixed width layouts, and they will therefore not be affected when viewed on these browsers.

Cons:

•    Viewing fixed width pages on a browser that is narrower than the layout will require side to side scrolling, which can be an annoyance to visitors.
•    Large monitors on the other hand, result in covering white space, and the need for scrolling up and down.
•    Font sizes on fixed width pages are not flexible, and font resizing is virtually impossible.

Liquid Layouts

Liquid layouts adjust to the size of the web browser used to view them, and, while this may seem ideal, there are pros and cons to this approach too.

Pros:

•    Liquid layouts expand and contract to fit the screen size available.
•    Because of this, layouts can be manipulated to fit large and small screen sizes.
•    These pages are scalable, and all elements adjust to larger or smaller screen sizes accordingly.

Cons:

•    If some elements are fixed width, any adjustment to the width of the page in a browser can cause all the elements to display incorrectly.
•    Because the width adjusts dynamically, not all elements on the page can be controlled.
•    When pages adjust to larger page sizes, text width is affected, resulting, possibly, in text that is more difficult to read.

It is possible to combine both fixed and liquid layouts on a single site, and many designers opt for this choice.

However, if you plan to use one type of layout only, make sure you weigh the pros and cons carefully, before making a choice!

123Triad webdesign offers affordable custom website design. Our full service website design company only hires certified website designers. Please contact us today on 1-800-720-0816 for your next web site design project.

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