White space in layout

[Sciurus-Rex]

On my computer screen here at the office, I notice there seems to be a lot of underutilized (aka "wasted") layout space on the home page (and probably other pages as well). Specifically, the left and right borders or gutters are much larger than they need to be, and to a lesser extent the spaces between layout elements and individual articles.

I'm not sure why you chose the layout you did, and I'm not going to try to second-guess the coding restraints you're under. I can only suggest considering a slight shift here and there: Move your colums closer to the edges of the screen, which in turn will open up more space for your center elements, which will allow you to spread each text block wider rather than deeper, which will allow more items to be moved up into the reader's field of vision without scrolling.

This is not so important on the message board pages, where each element (text) is thin and directly adjoining the next down the center, without side columns. But your home page should make better use of its space.

Tiny amounts can add up to big savings.

[mrbiggs]

I have to say that I enjoy the uncluttered layout of fencing.net.

[Sciurus-Rex]

I have to say that I enjoy the uncluttered layout of fencing.net.

Why do you have to?

[mrbiggs]

Why do you have to?

Because it makes me sound smarter and less contrary than saying "I enjoy the uncluttered layout of fencing.net."

[Inquartata]

Pardon a question from a technological ignoramus, but---doesn't more "stuff" mean it takes longer for a page to load? That already takes long enough as it is...

[Sciurus-Rex]

Pardon a question from a technological ignoramus, but---doesn't more "stuff" mean it takes longer for a page to load? That already takes long enough as it is...

I think you're confusing load time with your personal reading speed, Inq. Sabreur.

Regardless, I'm not suggesting more stuff, in total, be stuck on the page. Just a different layout and use of space so that the stuff already available gets better play. (Thus my comment, "more items to be moved up into the reader's field of vision without scrolling.")

[Craig]

SR - Thanks for the comments.

The layout of the main content pages of Fencing.Net were made to accomodate those with an 800 pixel width screen resolution. In order to keep things where I (and my template creator) wanted them, we went with fixed width instead of variable width. That means those of you with 1024 or wider see a lot of white space.

I'm looking at some ways to change things up, but they required that I get this server move done first as everything that I want to do involves mucking with the database and writing up a bunch of sql queries that I don't have to have to support the current site.

I figure it will be a couple of months of tinkering and testing behind the scenes and then there may be a new layout to the content section. Then again, I may get busy just updating the content and forget about the whole thing.



Craig

On my computer screen here at the office, I notice there seems to be a lot of underutilized (aka "wasted") layout space on the home page (and probably other pages as well). Specifically, the left and right borders or gutters are much larger than they need to be, and to a lesser extent the spaces between layout elements and individual articles.

I'm not sure why you chose the layout you did, and I'm not going to try to second-guess the coding restraints you're under. I can only suggest considering a slight shift here and there: Move your colums closer to the edges of the screen, which in turn will open up more space for your center elements, which will allow you to spread each text block wider rather than deeper, which will allow more items to be moved up into the reader's field of vision without scrolling.

This is not so important on the message board pages, where each element (text) is thin and directly adjoining the next down the center, without side columns. But your home page should make better use of its space.

Tiny amounts can add up to big savings.