Fluid vs. fixed tcal

dangerman

Right, my site; http://tcal.net/

has been running as a fixed width dealy since it started.

I've just completed the prototype of a fluid 3 column css design.

Here it is:

http://tcal.net/tester.php

What I'm looking for is:

Does it work/look ok on your config? So far I've tested it with Firefox & IE 6 - but it was a nightmare getting those two to display it correctly, so i'm fully expecting reports of misalignement etc. in certain configs.

What do you think of it - as in which do you prefer - fixed width or fluid?

in terms of usability, fluid is the winner - or would anyone care to disagree with that?

If you are critiquing, please tell me a) your browser and b) your screen resolution.

Finally, the image at the top is probably temporary, as in i'm not sure about it - it's 55k and a bit pointless really. but we'll see.

The move to fluid is being prompted by a) the need to have more space for new content coming soon and b) cause i never forgot cgarvey's comments on this thread:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=187491

JustHalf

The idea that fluid layout is better for usability is debatable, and I don't think it's the most important decision to be made; and making a layout fluid can actually make a site less usable.

But I'll get to that in a moment. First, I have to say that I think the older layout works better. The eye is drawn diagonally down from the logo onto the main content area. Also drawing attention to the main content area is its higher position... it seems to break out from where one would expect it to be, making itself conspicuous. This is a good thing... the main content area is (presumably) where you want people looking.

In the new layout, you loose that. The main content area is not as prominent. The first things I'd do to fix this would be to move the main content area up, and to add a border on either side. I think that would bring a lot more visitor-focus to the main content, which at the moment is lost.

Fluid layouts introduce another problem. Line-lengths can increase to a rather dramatic size, and this isn't good. There's an optimum length for lines of text. You should read these articles:
http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/42/text_length.htm
http://modulo26.net/daily/archives/2004/08/17/
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/em/

You might want to take a look at elastic layouts:
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/elastic/
http://www.designbyfire.com/000101.html

It looks okay in Safari 1.2 on OSX 10.3.6.

dangerman

Also drawing attention to the main content area is its higher position... it seems to break out from where one would expect it to be, making itself conspicuous. This is a good thing... the main content area is (presumably) where you want people looking.

In the new layout, you loose that. The main content area is not as prominent. The first things I'd do to fix this would be to move the main content area up, and to add a border on either side. I think that would bring a lot more visitor-focus to the main content, which at the moment is lost.

Interesting. This is exactly what I noticed too. Losing the off-set look of the main content area wasn't actually intentional, at least not at first, but I had problems so it ended that way. - This raises the issue of whether you should let the technology dictate your design, and yes, I admit, I caved and gave up on having the content area higher up in favour of a quick solution. But I can work on this, cause the fact that you've noticed it to means it's a noticable point.

I totally agree, I think it's lost a lot - having the main posts area drags the eye straight at it, and the way the logo 'frames' the content area in the original I thought was very nice. - It's one of those design rules - 'break alignment sparingly' - and in this instance in the old layout it really adds a lot, something that's gone in the fluid layout.

I'll have to look at bringing it back.

As for borders, I agree with that to a point...the reason the fluid design appears to need borders on the main content area is just to break it up, i think the action of moving the content area would break it up without the need for borders, but again we'll see.

Fluid layouts introduce another problem. Line-lengths can increase to a rather dramatic size, and this isn't good.

Again, you're pointing out exactly what one of my concerns for moving the content-area to fluid presents. On my resolution (1154x864) it looks acceptable, but at 1600x it just seems silly.

I dunno, it's a toughy. so I guess I'll do up a 3rd prototype. The beauty about this is I have all the time in the world.

Cool, that was great feedback justhalf. Thanks.