Choosing a Good Layout for your Website or Blog
May 2006
For those of you who have been using tables for many years, CSS may seem like an alien way to lay out your website. At one time, we thought so too. Old habits die hard, as they say, and many designers are still using tables. But the more and more we learned about CSS, the more we were impressed. We were able to change entire websites, not just mere web pages, simply by changing one CSS file. We also noticed that our pages were loading much faster. Why? Because the CSS file that your browser calls up to format the pages of a website gets called up once, then it's cached. Once it's cached, the rest of the pages on that website will render very quickly because there is no need for it to search again for the file which formats your website.
Deciding on a layout is important as you need to consider where and how you want your page elements set out. One of the most helpful things we have found over the years is to sketch what you'd like your website to ultimately look like when it is completed. What is in your head will not always translate well visually, so sketching your design on paper will prove to be a very important part of your creative process. It will enable you to determine which layout is the best for your particular website.
There are many layouts to choose from which are very configurable. There is the typical blog layout of 2 columns and a header, maybe even a footer, along with 3 columns and 1 column layouts. Some are even aligned completely center in the 'box' type fashion. While you may love a certain website layout, for example the 'box' layout, you may find it impossible to display all of the page elements you want in this manner. Will you use a header or a footer to display your company logo, copyright information or sitemap? Will you be displaying advertisements or outside links? If so, where will you place them? Your elements may need to be resized and scaled to be pleasing to the eye, as well as user friendly.
The other important thing you must consider is, once again, browser compatibility. What looks great in Firefox and Opera may be destroyed by Internet Explorer. This is the time that you may want to consider utilizing javascript or CSS hacks to make your website display as intended in the most popular browsers. Some designers strongly frown on this, while others see it as a necessary evil. Our philosophy is, use what is necessary to get websites up as intended with a minimum amount of problems.
Your layout decisions should, of course, not rely solely on how many columns your website has. It should also be laid out in a user-friendly, accessible manner. In our next article, we will discuss this in more detail.
Deciding on a layout is important as you need to consider where and how you want your page elements set out. One of the most helpful things we have found over the years is to sketch what you'd like your website to ultimately look like when it is completed. What is in your head will not always translate well visually, so sketching your design on paper will prove to be a very important part of your creative process. It will enable you to determine which layout is the best for your particular website.
There are many layouts to choose from which are very configurable. There is the typical blog layout of 2 columns and a header, maybe even a footer, along with 3 columns and 1 column layouts. Some are even aligned completely center in the 'box' type fashion. While you may love a certain website layout, for example the 'box' layout, you may find it impossible to display all of the page elements you want in this manner. Will you use a header or a footer to display your company logo, copyright information or sitemap? Will you be displaying advertisements or outside links? If so, where will you place them? Your elements may need to be resized and scaled to be pleasing to the eye, as well as user friendly.
The other important thing you must consider is, once again, browser compatibility. What looks great in Firefox and Opera may be destroyed by Internet Explorer. This is the time that you may want to consider utilizing javascript or CSS hacks to make your website display as intended in the most popular browsers. Some designers strongly frown on this, while others see it as a necessary evil. Our philosophy is, use what is necessary to get websites up as intended with a minimum amount of problems.
Your layout decisions should, of course, not rely solely on how many columns your website has. It should also be laid out in a user-friendly, accessible manner. In our next article, we will discuss this in more detail.
