Poll HN: What kind of websites do you prefer - Fixed or Fluid width?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6659984

by neya • 13 years ago

4 10 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

transfire• 13 years ago

It's really a shame that the web standards don't make everything more naturally fluid. I for instance use my monitor in portrait orientation so the width is no more than 1080px which makes some fixed width sites go off the edge. On the other hand, my grandmother has to zoom in on everything approx 30-50% to read all that small print, so almost every fixed width page goes off the edge on her making it much harder for her to navigate.

neya5• 13 years ago

I understand, when I develop websites, I will have this in mind :) It's basically scaling up the font size with screen size. Thanks for your valid point :)

krrishd• 13 years ago

If you mean media queries/fixed breakpoints vs fluid/percents/ems, I would actually go with fixed breakpoints simple because usually my target market has a device within one of those breakpoints.

Also, no user keeps re-sizing their browser for fluidity to really matter by itself.

neya5• 13 years ago

No, actually I didn't mean media queries, but they are valid methods too. No, resizing happens the first time you load a page, so, it will adapt to your screen's size the instance you open it. Whereas a fixed width site wouldn't :)

Thank you for your feedback!

cmaury• 13 years ago

Fluid width sites are extremely helpful for accessibility. I have low vision, and so I have to zoom in on most websites. Fluid width allows me to navigate without having to scroll sideways.

neya5• 13 years ago

Thank you for your feedback!

idupree• 13 years ago

Every one of those websites has a horizontal scroll bar in my current browser window, so I can't really recommend them. I voted for "fluid" hoping for websites that are more fluid than those. (My current browser window is 845 CSS pixels wide.)

neya5• 13 years ago

Thank you for your feedback!

teni• 13 years ago

Fluid Sites just work across screens. So shouldn't this be a no-brainer?

neya5• 13 years ago

Depends, they are also comparatively complex to develop. HEnce this poll. Thank you for your feedback!

Poll HN: What kind of websites do you prefer - Fixed or Fluid width?

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