layout - fixed width or percentage?

[AP81]

Hi guys,

 

Just wondering if most of you use fixed pixel widths for your layout containers, for example a basic layout consisting of:

 

a container which has a header section, main content section and footer section

 

Given the above I would set the container, header, main content & footer sections to a fixed width.  Any div column layouts in the header/main/footer I would then use percentages.

 

Is this the best way for browser compatibility?  (I am more a back-end developer and haven't done any solid HTML for a while)

[soycharliente]

I've been moving more toward fluid designs recently. IMO they work better across multiple platforms. A few reasons being font size, margins, padding, etc. can change from browser to browser, so by allowing the body to fill the width of the screen instead of a fixed width has helped me some.

 

But on the other hand, it really depends on the site and what you're page is displaying. If it's paragraphs and paragraphs of text, I'd go with a fluid width. If it's a menu with some images stacked vertically, maybe fixed width is your best option so the menu text doesn't wrap if the user changes the dimensions.