Layout Usability

I’m making up a new site and this research on layout usability was very useful for me. I hope you will find it interesting too.

Three layout methods are studied:

1. “Fluid” layout (Has the flexibility to expand and contract along with the size of the window).
2. Positioning the content such that it is centered within the window at a particular fixed width, such as 640 pixels.
3. Left-justifying the content at a fixed width, which is usually wider than the centered layouts at around 770 pixels.

Results:

Participants indicated they perceived this layout as being the best suited for reading and finding information, as well as having a layout that is most appropriate for the screen size (for both small and large screens). They also indicated that the Fluid layout looked the most professional, and consequently preferred it to the other layout conditions. Conversely, the Left-justified layout was consistently the least preferred condition.