I mixed up width and length, my bad. So variable width is when there’s text, and occasionally stuff on the sides like diagrams, and the text goes further out when the stuff isn’t there, and is pulled back when there is?
Fixed width vs. variable width simply has to do with the way in which the width of the main text column changes when you change the width of the viewport (i.e., the browser window).
To easily see the difference, go to GreaterWrong.com, click on any post, and then look to the top right; you’ll see three small buttons, like this:
This is the width selector. Click on any of the three icons to select that width. The left-most button (‘normal’) and the middle button (‘wide’) are fixed-width layouts; the right-most button (‘fluid’) is a variable-width layout. Try resizing your browser window (changing its width) after selecting each of the options, and you’ll see what I am talking about.
Variable-width is the web’s default, so it’s definitely not harder to do. Many very old websites (10+ years old) use variable width, before anyone started thinking about typography on the web, so in terms of web-technologies, that’s definitely the default.
I mixed up width and length, my bad. So variable width is when there’s text, and occasionally stuff on the sides like diagrams, and the text goes further out when the stuff isn’t there, and is pulled back when there is?
Fixed width vs. variable width simply has to do with the way in which the width of the main text column changes when you change the width of the viewport (i.e., the browser window).
To easily see the difference, go to GreaterWrong.com, click on any post, and then look to the top right; you’ll see three small buttons, like this:
This is the width selector. Click on any of the three icons to select that width. The left-most button (‘normal’) and the middle button (‘wide’) are fixed-width layouts; the right-most button (‘fluid’) is a variable-width layout. Try resizing your browser window (changing its width) after selecting each of the options, and you’ll see what I am talking about.
Variable-width is the web’s default, so it’s definitely not harder to do. Many very old websites (10+ years old) use variable width, before anyone started thinking about typography on the web, so in terms of web-technologies, that’s definitely the default.