February
8, 2006
In This Issue:
1. Fixed or Fluid?
2. In the News - Bigdaddy and GoDaddy
3. More News Headlines
4. This Week's Q&A - AdWords ranking
5. Wrapping It Up
_________________
Fixed or Fluid?
Fixed or fluid is one of the first decisions a
web developer has to make with each new project.
Am I going to use a fixed-width layout or a fluid
layout? Maybe a quick definition is in order for
the non-designers reading this: fixed-width means
that the web page is the same width no matter
how wide the browser window is stretched (OWTweb.com
is an example); fluid means that the page will
shrink and grow with the browser window.
There are pros and cons for each style. With fixed-width,
the developer can better control how the content
will appear across different platforms, browsers,
etc. Since the content is forced to remain the
same size, you can be generally confident it will
look the way you want no matter how wide the user
stretches his/her web browser. With fluid layouts,
your content can fill the available space in the
browser window, so you don't have to worry about
too much empty space.
For the past few years, I've been living in the
fixed-width world and doing just about all my
designs that way. I don't know what happened,
but right now I'm in a fluid layout phase - and
I'm enjoying the results. We recently finished
new web sites for the Three
Rivers Convention Center and the Toyota
Center, and both use fluid layouts that will
fill your web browser. Both were "rush"
jobs, which made things a bit complicated, but
I'm planning to do more fluid layouts in the future
-- when appropriate. And that's the key -- to
a large degree, you have to let the content decide
which design choice is best. If your content is
such that it needs to look as consistent as possible
on both small and wide browsers/monitors, fixed-width
is probably the way to go.
And on a related subject, you designers may want
to read through a great article on A List Apart
about building the perfect, 3-column, fluid layout.
A List Apart: In
Search of the Holy Grail
_________________
In The News
Bigdaddy Update
A month ago we talked about the Google "Bigdaddy"
changes in this newsletter, and the changes are
continuing to roll out. Googleguy Matt Cutts posted
an update on his blog last week.
Matt Cutts: Bigdaddy
progress update
Problems with GoDaddy?
Just a heads up if you use GoDaddy as your domain
registrar. Too many recent reports of poor customer
services and related problems have me now moving
my personal/hobby domains away. Maybe something
for you to consider based on these recent Threadwatch
discussions, which I'll list most recent first.
More
GoDaddy Frustration
Godaddy
abuse department strikes again
Godaddy
Holding Customer Sites to Ransom?
_________________
More News Headlines
Here are a few news headlines worth your time
to read. These are just some of the headlines
we've posted to OWTweb.com in recent days.
Here are a few news headlines worth your time
to read. These are just some of the headlines
we've posted to OWTweb.com in recent days.
The
elasticity of online content
February 07, 2006 - Search Engine Guide
Google
agrees to censor results in China
January 25, 2006 - Associated Press
More headlines: http://www.owtweb.com/news/
_________________
This Week's Q&A
Hey Matt,
What's the magic trick you have to know in order
to get your Adwords ad to appear on the top of
the pile in Google? We advertise in a competitive
field and no matter how much we increase our daily
budget, our bid amount, and everything else, our
ad never seems to stay at a higher spot for very
long. What's the deal?
Bill
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the email. Your ad's position is not
just dependent on how much you bid, what your
daily or monthly budget is, etc. Google also factors
in the click-rate of your ad. The more people
click on your ad, the more valuable and relevant
Google views it, and the higher it will appear
on the right side of the screen. So it's possible
to bid more than your competition yet have your
ad continue to show below theirs. And all of this
means that the pressure is on your to write such
a scintillating ad that more people will click
on it and help boost you higher up the "pile."
(Have a question? Email questions@owtweb.com)
_________________
Wrapping it Up
Apologies for missing last week -- I came down
with some strange half-cold, half-flu thing which
knocked me out pretty much through the weekend.
Please do send in questions for the newsletter.
We're down to a trickle and I'm thinking it may
be time to kill off the Q&A bit if we don't
have a regular stream of stuff. Or maybe it'll
just become a once-in-a-while part of the newsletter....
Thanks for reading,
Matt McGee
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