[thelist] Liquidity

[Oliver Lineham]

At 16:58 12/08/00 -0700, you wrote:

>if you think of the browser window as a container, then the words ice,
>jello, and liquid make more sense.  with nothing to contain it, liquids flow
>all the way to the sides.  ice doesn't flow at all, in fact it pushes out of
>the container (provided the container is weaker) if the container is smaller
>than the piece of ice.  jello on the other hand is somewhat solid, somewhat
>liquid.  it will lazily stretch to a certain point, never quite filling the
>container, unless the container shrinks down to the point where the jello
>can no longer be compacted.

that certainly makes the analogy accurate, but my point is more to do with 
how useful each definition is.

if a site is set to 80% and centered, i don't consider it in any way 
inferior to a site which we both agree is "liquid". the design is in the 
spirit of cross-browser/platform compatibility.

however, i do consider a fixed-but-centered page to be inferior to a liquid 
design.

while a fixed-width left-aligned page is (in most cases) worse still.

that's why i consider my interpretation of the term "jello" as more useful, 
even if it doesn't strictly analogise (woah, talk about inventing words!)

</ol>

aside:  we don't use the word jello in this part of the world.  what you 
call jello, we call jelly.  what you call jelly, we sort of call jam 
(sometimes jelly).  just to add to the confusion ;)

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