Posted by Travis Newbury on 12/08/06 15:40

Ed Seedhouse wrote:
> >> >I prefer fixed width sites
> >> Hardly the point. What do people who have to use your sites prerfer?
> >Ahh, your opinion is obviously more what people need.
> My opinion is based on some facts.
As are mine...

> Fixed width sites are generally
> brittle and harder to use. Are you writing a web site just for
> yourself, or for the folks with web browsers that you want to visit it?

I am not writing web sites at all. I write pieces of websites.

> Of course content is vastly more important than mere layout.

The problem you seem to miss is content can NOT always be separated
from layout.

> I go back
> to sites that truly suck design-wise because they have content I really
> want.

As do I...

> But given that you have content that people want to use why would
> you go out of your way to design your site in a way that makes it harder
> to use than it needs to be?

Because for the majority (obviously not you personally) of the visitors
they LIKE it presented in that manner. YOU are not the only visitor.
Sometimes what you like, is NOT what the majority of the visitors like.
(And visa-versa sometimes what I like is not what the majority of the
visitors like)


> Fixed width designs do just that. There
> are even worse offences out there, but fixed width is one of them.

Or not. It completely depends on each particular site. One size does
NOT fit all on the web.

> What about people who don't see so well and have to enlarge your fonts?
> What happens to your fixed width sites on a few size increases?

They can't see them. Oh well, sucks to be those people. But if the
layout of the site brings in more money, then it is the right way to
go. A website is a means of REVENUE for a company. If fixed width (or
anything else) brings in more money, then it is correct for that
particular site. A company that is willing to lose money so a
particular group of people can see their website will go out of
business. You HAVE to do what is BEST for your company. There is NO
absolutes. It is case by case . Thinking otherwise will give me more
customers. (So please think otherwise...)

> If you look around a bit on the web you will find that it is hardly just
> "me". Take a look at http://pages.prodigy.net/chris_beall/TC/ for
> instance.

Take a look at the direction virtually ALL entertainment website and
children's websites are moving. It will validate that the web is NOT
one size fits all.

Do you understand that I do not disagree with you? I just thing it is
case by case, and you can not say "fixed width is bad" Sometimes it
is, sometimes not. For the sites I work on, it is not.

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