Fixed interface VS Fluid interface

Written by JJ

Design - Web Design

Liquid Interface

We all understands the benefits of liquid design, the ability to scale with the resolution of the screen. It reduces the whitespace or more appropriately, "empty space" filling up the screen. But it really falls over when you take into account readability of text more importantly line length.

Liquid is more suited to sites that have to cram a lot of content onto a page. see amazon,

Fixed Interface
For me i prefer fixed, as a designer you have total control over what you have designed. You know what you see on your screen the user will see on theirs, You have formatted your text to lines about 10 words long(this allows the reader a far greater reading speed), It wont when resized give the user a line of text 30 words long. The white space issue; this space shouldnt be seen as empty space it can be used effectivly to draw the user to the interface or frame the content and keep them focussed on the design and main content.

There is no single best way and that your design should depend upon your:

1. needs
2. audience
3. requirements

Both are good, both have strengths, both have weaknesses.

I mixture of both is probably a good idea fixed with a liquid header and footer but keep the central content anchored. yet giving the the illusion of resizing in the browser.