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Page layout - align left or align center?
Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2003 10:35 am
by Toneboy
Like many (if not most) people who design webpages I tend to put everything within one big table so that I can keep more control over where things are on the screen when a page loads.
I've always designed my pages to load centrally, but as I've noticed more and more pages that I visit being aligned to the left I've wondered if I've been getting it wrong all this time.
What's your preference, and why?
Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2003 10:38 am
by JAM
Code: Select all
ї ] To the left
ї ] To the right
їX] Center
You forgot that one...
I still use center it as I find that neater (most often). But it depends from job to job really...
Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2003 10:40 am
by twigletmac
If there's going to be whitespace I prefer it evenly split across each side not in one huge bar.
Mac
Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2003 10:48 am
by Toneboy
Just to clarify what I meant (not sure I did) I'll give some examples:
Left align:
http://www.herald.com
news.bbc.co.uk
Centre align:
https://post-office.clara.net
(Not the best example, but you'll see it is centre-aligned, not hugging the left-hand side of the screen)
Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2003 11:14 am
by JayBird
i prefer centre alignment, but the site built to exapand so there is NO white space. Its a little trickier to achieve but it looks far better i believe.
Mark
Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2003 2:29 pm
by cybaf
I agree with Bech100... center but "smeared" (?) out...
Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2003 2:36 pm
by qads
i like to center the layouts, but mostly my apps have to much data so i end up with 100% width..like so
[links] content [links]
my new site gona be aligned left

...now give me a cookie!

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2003 3:24 pm
by Gen-ik
Sites that are aligned to the left look ugly for a few reasons. First of all they are designed for 800x600 screens (normally) which is why they are no larger than about 780px wide. This leaves a horrible chunk of white space on the right of the screen.... unless someone has been creative and filled it with a background image that works with the site.
Another reason some sites are aligned to the left is because they use pop-up or drop-down <div> menus that need to be placed in an absolute position, and it's easier to work with them if people know exactly where the top-left of the site starts.
Personally I go for a center aligned site and normally keep it below 800px for smaller resolution screens. I will then tend to fill the left and right space with a background image that works with the site because it 'pads out' the design a bit and makes it look a lot better.
Left aligned sites in, most cases, just look crap, and it's also bad design practice. It's the way of the novice so avoid it if you can.
Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2003 4:07 pm
by JAM
Gen-ik wrote:Left aligned sites in, most cases, just look crap, and it's also bad design practice. It's the way of the novice so avoid it if you can.
Hahaha...
Abit hard on them arn't you (even with the "most cases" comment)?
I think that a good site is good no matter how the design is dealt with. I would tho say that a left aligned site looks more old fashioned standard that others, hence the 'been there, done that' thinking when visiting it.
Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2003 5:59 pm
by Gen-ik
JAM wrote:Hahaha...
Abit hard on them arn't you (even with the "most cases" comment)?
I think that a good site is good no matter how the design is dealt with. I would tho say that a left aligned site looks more old fashioned standard that others, hence the 'been there, done that' thinking when visiting it.
Yeah ok a bit harsh maybe, but you know me, if I've got a point of view on something then it's no-holds-barred.
You're right when you say "a left aligned site looks more old fashioned that others", and even when creating a site in Strict XHTML (which I'm currently going.... and it ain't easy) there's really no excuse for not having your site center aligned.
Oh well, some people like their left aligned sites... but they will learn

Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 7:48 am
by Toneboy
qads wrote:i like to center the layouts, but mostly my apps have to much data so i end up with 100% width..
But not using <...width="100%"> I guess?
Nothing like
paragraphs
which can be
squashed up
like this if a
window isn't
maximised.

Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 8:49 am
by igoy
actually it also depends on layout...
some layouts are made such a way that they will look good either left or center, and some are done so that they can go both way.
allthough I prefer doing it center mostly.... because or larger monitors it becomes very unbalanced due to the large blank space on one side....
Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 11:42 am
by Gen-ik
Pesonally I think that sites should be designed for 1024x768 (or there abouts) as standard now any way. Anyone still using a 800x600 display (why?) will either need to sort it out or miss out.
There's really no excuse for not using a 1024x768 (or there abouts) resolution display in this day and age.
Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 12:08 pm
by Toneboy
Here's a better example of central alignment:
ebay.co.uk
Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2003 12:13 pm
by Toneboy
Gen-ik wrote:Pesonally I think that sites should be designed for 1024x768 (or there abouts) as standard now any way. Anyone still using a 800x600 display (why?) will either need to sort it out or miss out.
There's really no excuse for not using a 1024x768 (or there abouts) resolution display in this day and age.
As an 800 x 600 display user I appreciate that your site loads for me in a central table 700 pixels wide.
(Don't like 1024 x 768 myself, just a matter of what I'm used to)