Reading Assignment #2...

Homework assignment was to read pages 22-37 in The Principles of Beautiful Web Design and pages 20-29 in Don't Make Me Think.  Here are the questions I came up with after doing the readings....

1. What is the difference between "fixed-width" and "liquid-width" layouts?

2. What are some things that should be considered, or things that the client should be asked, before starting to design a website?

3. What are the three most common kinds of layouts used when referring to navigation placement?

Answers:

1. Fixed-Width: Can appear to be small/dwarfed in larger browser windows, does not have a horizontal scroll bar, the designer has more control over how an image floated within the content will look, allows for planned white space, narrower text blocks improve readability.  Liquid-Width: Has a horizontal scroll bar, adapts to most screen resolutions and devices, reduces scrolling, text spanning a wide distance is more difficult to read, more difficult to execute successfully, can cause a lack of (or awkward) white space.

2. What kinds of content do they want to provide on the site? How much content do they want to provide? Do they have a consistent logo that brands their company?

3. Left-column navigation, Right-column navigation, Three-column navigation.