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"Letterbox" is the word I know

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Subject:  "Letterbox" is the word I know Francois Jordaan
Author:   fjordaan :   view profile | all posts by this author | add to favourites
Date:   14:29:48 24 May 2004
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  (4.6 point avg. from 7 votes)  
 
...but different designers will doubtless have their own terms.

Mostly I'd advise against it.

The main reasons why it is used are
1) Better knowledge of Photoshop than the web. In Photoshop you work on a page with fixed width and height. If you extend these restrictions to the web, you get a letterbox layout.
2) Perception of strong branding. Having a design centered in the window arguably gives it more impact than if it were huddled against the edge.
3) Very little content. If the page has little on it, centering it in the window helps it look less "short" and "unfinished".

The problems with the above are
1) The flexibility of the web, as opposed to Photoshop, is an advantage of the medium rather than an obstacle to overcome. Any good web designer should make provision for varying amounts of content, for a user's right to resize fonts to their preference, and the different screen resolutions and indeed devices that may be used to view a page.
2) Fair enough. But what about people with high-resolution monitors? They get a tiny web page surrounded by acres of empty space. And if they are forced to scroll within that area, they're going to find it quite annoying. This is also an unfamiliar location for the scrollbar, which can cause confusion.
3) Justified. If you have very little content on the site, and it's not going to increase later, then there's nothing wrong with using this layout.

There are lots of ways of coding such a layout, some better than others. DON'T USE FRAMES! There are frame-less ways that work fine. My own test pages:
http://www.fjordaan.net/tests/vertical-centering-tables.html
http://www.fjordaan.net/tests/vertical-centering-table-div.html

francois
 
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    • "Letterbox" is the word I know, fjordaan , 24 May 14:29
      ...but different designers will doubtless have their own terms. Mostly I'd advise against it. The main reasons why it is used are 1) Better knowledge of Photoshop than the w ...
      • "Letterbox" is the word I know, paulnattress, 25 May 16:17
        Can I throw a thought or two about liquid into the mix here? How does a liquid layout affect the relationship between elements on a page? Good information design creates relatio ...
        • "Letterbox" is the word I know, fjordaan , 27 May 18:14
          I didn't mean to suggest that a liquid layout should always be used. (Jargon guide: A liquid layout is where the content on the page always expands to the full width of the brow ...
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