Posted by Andrew on 01/21/08 22:08

Synapse Syndrome wrote:
> I would say that there is always a case for using absolute positioning on
> webpages rather than liquid layouts.

I think you're confused here - it's not a "rather than". A web page can
use absolute positioning and still be liquid. Presumably you mean fixed
layout using absolute positioning.

> Absolute positioning is used on most big websites.

Which ones did you check, and by what criteria did you decide if they
counted as big? Or is that one of those made up claims convenient to
your argument? And do you mean fixed layout here?

> For example, I cannot see how The Guardian news site would be as clear when
> using liquid layouts. www.guardian.co.uk

It's not very clear if your browser canvas is narrower than the page's
width - scrolling in both directions is required to see everything. It
also fell to bits in Internet Explorer 6.

It does degrade well with CSS disabled (apart from the slightly strange
double-link lists.) It's certainly perfectly clear that way, perhaps
just less visually appealing.

Mostly I quite like the design, but it's another of these sites that,
for me, crams too much information into every available space, as if
it's desirable to match newspaper layout on the web. I'd prefer more
white space and a design that gradually leads me from the most important
information to the finer details.

> Would anybody say that liquid layouts are always what is most desirable, and
> that when that they are not used it is due to the incompetence of the
> designer?

"Always" would be a bit strong, but liquid layouts are a major strength
of the web that most visual media just don't have. There could be
conceivably be situations where the requirements of a design outweigh
the benefits of a liquid layout and demand a fixed layout instead, but I
can't think of one right now. Outwith such situations, why remove the
ability to cater for wide-ranging user needs or preferences?

I've never seen the idea better expressed than by the late Alan J. Flavell:

"As if a tailor would make a suit to fit only one ideal customer,
rather than for the actual customers who want to buy one. *But* in
the case of the web, the web "tailor" only has to make one suit,
provided he knows how to make it so that it adapts /itself/ to the
client requirements."

Andrew

[Back to original message]