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Grant Lacey
6,103 PointsWhy aren't more websites 100% width?
Looking around the net. The majority of sites are fixed with with blank columns on either side. Wired, yahoo, CNN. The list goes on. I am developing a site and anticipate this being an objection. I like 100% as long as it responds well to resizing.
How to handle the objection when so many sites ARENT 100% width?
What are some opinions on the pros/cons of either?
2 Answers
Stefan Osorio
16,419 PointsReally depends on the site in question. The problem with "always 100%" (well, one of the problems), would be that you can get reaaally long rows on big screens if you just stretch out the content area. This could cause a much higher number of characters per row than recommended, besides problems with scaling images.
Stephen O'Connor
22,291 PointsIt's a bit of personal preference and a bit of what project you are working on I guess. Personally I tend not to like sites that span 100% of my browser window, especially when I am looking at them on my 27in iMac, I think elements are unnecessarily large and there can sometimes be HUGE padding on certain elements which feels a bit strange to me. But for some projects, an image based project for a photography site or something 100% widths can work well, but just because there is additional space available doesn't mean you have to use it.
Like I say I think it's something to consider when planning out a project, but are there any actual drawbacks to using one over the other? I think that's down to personal preference.
Grant Lacey
6,103 PointsGrant Lacey
6,103 PointsThats a fair observation but to put a finer point on my question. My macbook has ±1600px width a lot of sites are ±1125px That seems like a lot of screen space gone to waste. Treehouse seems to max-out around 1495px Most displays I see are letterbox and wide these days. It seems using max-width and thoughtful styling, the issues of creating lines with too much character count or stretching images are easily handled. Im not making the case that "always 100%" is optimal. Just wondering if theres some overarching wisdom out there that Im not aware of.