Question

Regardless of whether it is HTML, XHTML or HTML5 you find those annoying percentages littered throughout the place. Yet… I see an awful lot of websites dare not go near them. Yet I was always encouraged through uni to use them.

So which should I be using? Which would lead to better site design and why?

I’m aware to avoid the use of height although HTML5 really doesn’t like me not specifying height if I want to use percentages.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

Answer 1

It really depends on what you do you want to build up.
Sometimes I need to build a website which could be read by people with certain disabilities. If for example also older people visit your site its good to use % so that they could zoom in your page and the layout still looks pretty.

Fixed Design Layouts Fixed design layouts have a specific width and do
not scale to fit the browser window. Websites that make use of it can
be aligned to the left, centre or even aligned to the right as and
when required.

Benefits of Fixed layouts: With fixed design layouts you have control
over the line length, flow and placement of the elements on the web
page. The designer has a fixed space to work with and the line lengths
of the text and the placement of images can be designated easily.

Drawbacks of Fixed layouts: Fixed design layouts tend to leave lots of
empty space on either side of the design when viewed on high screen
resolutions. This dwarfs the size of the web page and gives an
impression that it is floating on the screen.

Fluid Layout Fluid design layouts use percentages instead of pixels to
define their width and they fill the entire browser window. They are
also called fixed or dynamic designs.

Benefits of Fluid layouts: One of the major benefits of fluid design
layouts is their accessibility features. They cater to more number of
users. This is because, whatever may be the screen resolution or
device of the user, fixed design layouts adapt better. It makes use of
the entire browser window by spreading out. This maximizes the area
for the content to e displayed and more information can be seen at one
go. Therefore, there is no empty space on the window screen. This is a
better bet as compared to fixed layouts that leave a great deal of
empty space.