Two Approaches to Website Widths

You will probably see that there are two types of websites on the Internet. The first type fills up (horizontally) your entire browser window (no matter what size the window is adjusted to). Look at Amazon.com as an example. The other type of site has a set width to it and will remain centered, or left justified, in your browser, no matter what your monitor resolution is set to. CNN.com is an example of this approach. There is usuallyspace on either side of the design.

So which method is better? The first approach is more difficult to design since the structure of the site must "expand and contract" (like a slinky) depending on what width a users browser happens to be. This usually entails creating numerous, nested HTML tables that are set to resize as the space in the browser window changes. You also have the side effect of extra white space cropping up as things adjust horizontally. If you have lots of content on your pages, this is usually not much of an issue.

The second approach is a set of tables structured so that the design fits exactly to a set pixel. Do not worry about the vertical aspect as much as the horizontal. We have found that creating a website that has a maximum width of 740 pixels is a good baseline to design for right now (currently the smallest resolution you will find on computers today is 800 pixels wide x 600 pixels high). So if you are using tables, remember the outer most table width must be set no wider than 740 pixels. If a user has an old computer (say from waaaay back is the later '90's), he or she may still have problems seeing the width of your site without horizontal scroll bars appearing. But that will happen since you cannot accommodate the very old computer maximum resolutions. You have to set a common denominator, and 740 pixels wide is a safe one.

So unless you are a professional web designer, it is much easier to create and maintain a set-width site design than a "slinky" version. And if you don't like the blank white space that shows up on either side on a set-width site, you can always add a background image that incorporates a complementary color to your main design scheme.