Web designers, which table width do you think is more easy to manage - Pixels or Percentages?

Question

Which table width do you web designers think is more easy to manage - pixels or percentages?

I design all my tables in Dreamweaver 4, and have tried both fixed width pixels (usually around 800-900 pixels wide) and percentages (usually set to 100%). However, I usually have a problem aligning the text in the horizontal navigation cells that run underneath the main table so that one cell of text doesn't look wider than the other.

Answer 1

I don't like to munch code without pay these days - which explains my my web pages are nowadays sorta like "the plumber's leaky tap"!

Personally I prefer to write my web pages in a text editor rather than ANY kind of WYSIWYG generator (some of these generators produce massive amounts of unnecessary junk that just bloats a page - slowing down the loading - often even explicitly specifying implicit defaults!) - you can get them now with features that auto check that the html code is correct (no open tags, tag errors, etc).

Absolutely, I prefer to use % rather than fixed pixels when I use tables, as then they automatically scale to whatever screen size the viewer is using - and the tables columns auto size too. I do use specific pixel sizes for certain things that need it like small embedded graphics for buttons, etc - the rest of the table then autoscales.

While things like css and javascript have their uses,
it depends on the complexity of the page, the size of the site, and how often you plan to change things..

You can produce simple to write neat pages with tables (often with less total code than heaps of css coding & JS coding). You can check mine - specific areas are designed for specific looks to demonstrate various simple ways of doing things - about 200 pages in 3.5 Mb.

Tables got wrongly over used (and misused) for a long while, but there are many neat tricks you can do with them - you can even draw simple images with them - like the fireplace in my 'Fooles Dwelling'!

"I usually have a problem aligning the text in the horizontal navigation cells that run underneath the main table so that one cell of text doesn't look wider than the other."

I never noticed that problem, perhaps you are doing something subtly wrong - it took me months to clearly understand HTML coding philosophy! It now seems intuitive to me - but it didn't at first! It's possible that my hand coding just avoids the sort of code that the generators produce that give you your problem. Are you setting specific percentages for the various columns in a row? Be careful - they must add up to 100% - you can set a few to specific pixel width, and the rest to percentages, or just leave one without any setting - the browser will then do the sums.

Answer 2

Use pixels. Setting the width and height for the images is fine, but remember that the original image file size will be transferred every single time a visitor sees the image. This could eat into your hosting plan's monthly bandwidth limits, so you are better off resizing all your images to the desired size using something like photoshop. Their file sizes will then be much lower, in proportion to the size being displayed anyway.

Answer 3

Pixel, Although if you are going to design with pixel's in mind take care that the website does not exceed 1024x768 or you can have some problems.

for example, if your website is designed with a set pixel size for monitors of 1280x1024, how do you think it will look in other resolutions, or a widescreen. for this reason I try to work with percentages as much as possible. but sometimes you just can't beat pixel sizing.

most of the time if I am making a site with percentages I will stick the content inside a

Answer 4

Well, it all depends on what your desired effect for the "reader" might be. If you want to have the table scale to the screen size of the user then you have to use percentages.
If you want the user to see a fixed width table you use fixed.
Remember that not all users have the same screen size so usually flexible is better but its all up to the designer to figure out what he/she wants (usually the site owner will let you know.)

When you set widths in the main table with either method, you also HAVE to set widths in the Columns (TD's) or you will have the text in the horizontal cells messing up!
SO you have Table size and Column Size to deal with.

Use CSS and DIV's and forget tables altogether, then your style sheet will control the entire layout!
http://www.w3.org/2002/03/csslayout-howto

Answer 5

Its harder to work with percentages and usually you have to do some extra things to make sure your design won't mess up, but you get the advantage of having your website fit on everyones screen nicely. Pixels for the most part remain the same size on all screens, so they will look better on some screens and not as good on others.

Answer 6

These days there's really no reason to be using tables at all (except for an actual table of data).

You can get much finer control using CSS markup with div elements. I really recommend you learn this way of designing.

Answer 7

Pixel for sure, you can't control how it looks if you don't know how big it will be on the viewers screen.

Answer 8

pixel table width you can manage

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thanks

Answer 9

with percentages used you have very little control. Go for pixels.

Answer 10

i use absolute positioning and pixels