Why use liquid layouts

A pixel width has become the standard in modern Web design because most website users are assumed to browse in x resolution or higher. The image above shows a fluid liquid website layout.

While some designers may give set widths to certain elements in fluid layouts, such as margins, the layout in general uses percentage widths so that the view is adjusted for each user. However, the pros and cons come out even with fluid-layout design. Here are five examples from designers who get the most out of fixed-width layouts.

These websites incorporate many design elements, a perfect scenario in which to use a fixed layout. The designers have more control over the placement of extra design elements around the content areas and can work with the content and navigation widths more precisely.

Notice how in all of these examples, the designers use continuous imagery to work with larger screen resolutions. Today, most designers assume that the majority of Internet users have a screen resolution of x or higher. According to a poll published by W3Schools , this is not the case please notice that one should take the W3Schools statistics with a grain of salt, more details about it follow below :.

While, in fact, some users actually do have this screen resolution, the statistics show that they make up a small enough percentage that designers should be able to ignore the size and still offer wide usability. However, these statistics are probably not as accurate as one might hope. Other research sources show different findings, but only slightly different. This next interesting table comes from SohTanaka. For all four major websites in the study, there was a complete turnaround.

Even the biggest companies on the Web are now assuming that their audiences have larger screen resolutions. All this being said, most designers choose a fixed width of either or pixels. A layout pixels wide looks good for users with a x resolution or above, with a bit of room for margins.

When working with a fixed width design, be sure to at least center the wrapper div to maintain a sense of balance margin: 0 auto; usually does the trick. Otherwise, for users with large screen resolutions, the entire layout will be tucked away in the corner.

Below are pros and cons to think about when considering fluid web page design. In other words, the frame will always be however wide it is, no matter how wide the page gets, but it will grow or shrink in depth along with the page height changes. This is the same Auto-Fit feature that was in CS5, but now it shows up in this panel, too. Now, imagine setting these object-specific movement and sizing options on all the objects within a complex layout destined for multiple outputs—a big poster, a small flyer, and a blowcard, or a digital magazine bound for the iPad, the XOOM, the Transformer, the Fire, the Galaxy Tab, the Playbook, and so on, in portrait and landscape versions for each device.

Imagine the amount of time and energy involved in reworking the layout. If you become familiar with the Liquid Layout options and prep each object carefully, setting auto-fit options on the images and flexible width options on text frames, you could almost entirely automate the process of adapting the one layout you actually have to design to all those other devices and orientations.

Is that a bug? I have a document that has the text locked to the baseline grid 12 lead. When I scale the page down, the text goes down in size, but the baseline grid does not change, thereby causing text spillover.

How do I get the page to scale the leading down along with the text? Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page. Advanced Search. Forgot Password? Join today. Not a member? How-tos, tips and tricks and more.

Join for free today! More after the jump! Sign up and log-in today. Recommended For You. Pariah S. Burke is the author of many books and articles that empower, inform, and connect creative professionals.

Anonymous says:. September 27, at pm. Log in to Reply. March 14, at am. Catchatiger says:. February 11, at pm. Tony V says:. June 17, at pm. Close dialog. Session expired Please log in again. Sign In. Username: Password:. You have to be logged in to save. InDesign provides several enhancements for your adopted strategy to balance cost and control. Automatic Liquid Layout based-publishing is not possible yet, because of the unavailability of compliant viewer technologies. Alternate layout workflow B.

Alternate layout and liquid page rules. STEP 1 : Choose a target device and its corresponding dimension and orientation. Then create your primary layout for all the pages. Liquid page rules are useful if you're targeting multiple devices. Without Liquid page rules, you'll have to manually create a unique layout for every possible size and orientation.

See Liquid layouts. Depending on your primary layout and the Liquid page rules, you may need to manually tune the layout. Repeat this step for each new size and orientation.

See Alternate layouts. Liquid layouts make it easier to design content for multiple page sizes, orientations, or devices. Apply liquid page rules to determine how objects on a page are adapted when you create alternate layouts and change the size, orientation, or aspect ratio.

You can apply different rules to different pages, depending on the layout and the goals; only one liquid page rule can be applied to a page at a time. Liquid Layout is a general term that covers a set of specific liquid page rules: scale, re-center, guide-based, and object-based page rules. To apply a liquid page rule, select the Page tool and click a page. Then choose a liquid page rule from the control bar. To preview the effects of the applied rule, use the Page tool to drag the page handles to resize the page.

The page snaps back to original size when you release it. Using the mouse, however, to resize the page could result in pages that are slightly off the intended size. Its more accurate to resize the page with the Height and Width widgets in the control bar. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Jennifer Kyrnin. Updated March 10, Table of Contents Expand. Fixed-Width Layouts. Liquid Layouts.

What's at Stake? Benefits of Fixed-Width Layouts. Benefits of Liquid Layouts. Drawbacks to Fixed-Width Layouts. Drawbacks to Liquid Layouts.