Overall design question...

[Phaser]

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if anyone had an opinion on whether or not I should center a table (the main content portion of my page, with a horizontal menu across the top) or align it to the left on a non-framed page (Since I have always dealt with frames).

Secondly,
I have the table set to 75% width, should I set it to a specific pixel value, or leave it the way it is? Because I don't want it to span the whole screen.

I was thinking I should set it to a specific pixel value in order for it to align with my logo, I was thinking it looked cleaner than way. Also, it would look better at different screen resolutions because the percentage value would of course change with resolution.

Thanks for your opinions.

[LeX]

Like, where's your page, dude? How're we supposed to give you ideas if you don't let us take a look at your page?

[Nick]

Yes, the actuall page would be quite usefull. Percentages and written descriptions aren't easy to visualize as a HTML page in my head. Of course, everyone else in the world could have a version of Dreamweaver in their brain for an automatic preview, and I just don't know about everyone having this, but I don't have any HTML editors in my brain, so could I just see the page please :p?

[Phaser]

The page wasn't actually up, so I had to just put it up quickly... I was wondering, as I am in the designing phase...

(edit) The content would be in another frame underneath the menu, of course (/edit)

But here you go!

http://frysause.twu.net

There are explanations as to what I meant on the page (well, just titles)

Would it be more helpful to put them on different pages for you to see each one individually?

[Edited by Phaser on 12-30-2000 at 09:44 PM]

[Nick]

I like the 75% aligned left. I have a 1280x1024 resolution and I usually get a lot of white or black space when I visit websites. The best looking websites are ones that use percents in their tables or 700+ pixels in width, and for some reason I just like websites with the table aligned left. Like http://wrestling.ign.com/ . There's a ton of white space on the right, but it just looks cool, but then again, I'm just a computer g33k, so what do I know :confused:

[Phaser]

Hmm, you see, that is what I was thinking at first... but then I was looking at the banner ad, and the menu at the top of this very message board...

They just look a little funny (no offense meant Peo).

[LeX]

Well... every one has its pros and cons. I suppose that if you're going to put up 468 ads, then you should use the 468 pixel ones. But then again, a large table seems nice too, you can stuff a lot more junk in it.

About the lining.... well, I use 1024x768, therefore your page looked fine to me, so it doesn't really matter wether it's centered or not cause there's no extra space anywhere.

Personally, though, I prefer centered.

[Phaser]

Yeah... on the alignment issue, I really preferred the centered items, because it just looks better in my opinion.

I hadn't really planned on having ads on my site, as it is just going to be a personal site... I just chose that as the width because that was a standard, so I used that as my logo's size.

Thanks for the comments.
I think I'm going with centered, 75% width.

[jvv]

Unless it would screw up your content, you should almost always use percentages, this will make your site more appealing even to those with extreme resolutions.

For the same reason centering seems a good idea.

[Nick]

Originally posted by jvv
...this will make your site more appealing even to those with extreme resolutions.

No, it will stretch out the design so far that a paragraph fits on one line and looks fuct. This is usually a bad idea to use percentages.

[Phaser]

I'll have to see what it looks like when I actually get some content up there and try it out on different machines (as I can't get above 800 by 600 on this current machine, but another one in the house can get up to 1600 by 1200).