[thelist] DEBATE: Fixed Width Vs Liquid

[Tom Dell'Aringa]

Ken,

A person "says that a 100% width is "ugly" and "not readable" because "users don't want to read
long lines of text." is one person's OPINION. If there are 3 people in the graphics dept. saying
this, it is 3 peoples OPINIONS. What you want to do is set up a small usability test -- nothing
crazy and elaborate mind you -- but get 5 people off the street to come in and test the design.

I recommend "Don't Make Me Think: Common Sense Approach to Web Usability" by Steve Krug if you
don't know how to do a test. He gives you pretty much everything you need to know in this great
book on how to run a simple user test. You can read the book in less than a day.

This way, you can derive hard data that probably (can't say for sure, don't see your page) will
prove that their obtuse statement is unfounded. Certainly, I would think your users won't consider
a liquid display "not readable" -- that's just an ignorant statement by somebody with a strong
opinion.

Good luck

Tom


--- Ken Kogler <ken.kogler at cph.org> wrote:
> I've come up with a (mostly) liquid design for a site I'm working on. (I say
> "mostly" because with the graphical elements, the minimum with is something
> like 600px. It's not truly liquid).
>
> The graphics department here says that a 100% width is "ugly" and "not
> readable" because "users don't want to read long lines of text." They're
> insisting I keep	to a 750px static width on every page.
>
> Arguments for or against this? I'm all for the liquid design, but I can't
> quite formulate an argument powerful enough to disprove the know-it-all
> graphics department.
>
> -Ken
>
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