For the last 10 years the question of whether to use fixed or liquid layouts when designing a website has raged on in the web design world, with major design players on both sides of the proverbial fence. Recently though, as screen resolutions have increased dramatically, fixed layouts have all but replaces liquid, but there are still come major advantages to a liquid layout if designed properly.
Preliminaries:
When I use the term “containing” elements, I’m referring to the columns or boxes that hold the text, images, and other content. Containing elements may have borders and background images, but are usually just the visual containers for the important content on the screen.
Fixed width layout:
In a fixed layout, the size of each “containing” element on the webpage is specified exactly. The page will not change when you resize your browser window. It will essentially look the same on any browser or computer.
Liquid layout:
In a liquid layout, the size of the containing elements changes depending on the browser size and user preferences. The container size increases when viewed at larger screen resolutions and decreases when the browser is resized.