Trying first flexible design: what must I know?

[tommy533]

Hi,

I haven't made that many sites but the ones I have made have been fixed width. I would like to make the move to flexible width so that screen real estate is used more efficiently and large monitors don't have so much empty space on the sides.

Are there any best practices I need to be aware of, or tips of how to design content that is more easily moved around automatically? I am thinking lots of text and small images, but there must be more to achieveing a good flexible design.

I'd be very grateful if you could share any tips that I could bring with me on my first journey into flexible width territory?

Thanks,
Tom

[jamesicus]

If you Google this subject Tom you will find a great number of resources -- I like this one (http://universalusability.com/access_by_design/page_layout/flexible.html) as a basic reference. There are so many different approaches and I have used most of them. I especially like the three column float left layout I am presently using for the reference page in my signature block. If you are interested, check the Markup and CSS source and feel free to use any code snippets you find useful.

James

[Apostropartheid]

A set minimum and maximum width are usually a nice idea.