Hi Guys, a complete newbie here!

I am designing a website with basic html. Thought I was doing a good job until I found out that what looks good on my 19” monitor looks all off centre and out off line on a 15” monitor. I am just coding the site with basic html; I have a basic understanding of this. A friend said that I should use ‘ frames’ or some other way of centralising my site and making it compatible with all browser and displays.

Is there a simple code that I am neglecting or should I being using some method of laying out my site a bit better.

I realise that this may be a stupid question, but I am very green! Any help would be great! Thanks

<added> DO NOT USE FRAMES</added>

should I being using some method of laying out my site a bit better

yes

It's not the monitor size, it's the screen resolution. Lots of threads in here and the CSS forum on the subject.

I assume you are using tables for you site? If you have fixed widths (ie: width="500") try changing those to % (ie: width="10%") . Otherwise, without seeing the code it's very hard to help.

Welcome to the site.

As Chris said Do NOT use frames.

There are a good many articles already here but here is a personal answer to your question. Tables are what you need to learn about.

When you write a "normal" page at any given monitor resolution it may look great until viewed at a different one. It is like using notepad with word wrap on and then turning it off.

With tables you define areas of a page and each section is displayed like a small page. If you set the table widths to a % of page value instead of using a fixed width in pixels the page will resize correctly for any resolution size.

Until you have to deal with browser compatability but let's save that for another topic.

Colbyt

Tables are what you need to learn about.

A lot of people (me for one) would disagree. Tables are there for tabular data, not for layouts.

My advice would be go to http://www.w3schools.com and take the HTML and CSS tutorials. Learn what each one is for, and how to use it. You will then see how easy it is to make liquid layouts by aligning elements to the sides of the pages, positioning them, etc.

If anyone can help you using css this is a far better way of designing.

Originally Posted by Minaki

A lot of people (me for one) would disagree. Tables are there for tabular data, not for layouts. .

Both you and Clink are right. CSS is the far better choice. Someday I do plan to master it.

Tables have been used for layout work for a long time. This isn't their intended purpose but it works. They are fairly easy to learn.

Colbyt

Hi Gifster,
Everyone has given you some good advice, but not enough for what you need. If you know basic HTML, that's a good place to start. This HTML Tutorial will help get you over the rough spots where you might need to go back and refer to things.

I agree that using CSS for all your layout and formatting is the way to go. Tables are good if you have a lot of tabular data to list. If you're learning how to do all this, you may as well learn it the correct way - and designing a website using tables (my own opinion) is not the correct way. Try this CSS Tutorial to get you started. It's easy to follow, too.

Here is an excellent website that will actually show you sample CSS Layouts with the code so that you understand how it all works.

Good luck and come back when it's done so we can see what you've learned!

Just my 2 cents,
DianeD

Just a side point -

New web developeres get into creating designs for monitor size.. i.e., 15", 17"

Start thinking in terms of resolution widths . 750, 800, 100, etc.

Someone, (especially in an office building) can have a 19" monitor and have its res set to 800 x 600. I've seen it. Knowing what your *typical* user is using is what determines what you design to. Not what looks good on YOUR 19" monitor with billions of colors..

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And Gifster, you keep mentioning BASIC HTML. Basic html is what makes css work properly. So keep using BASIC HTML and things will go good for you.

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Oh, and, did anybody here mention... NO FRAMES!!!!



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I feel that I must mention this once just like everyone else. NO FRAMES! Do NOT listen to the person that told you that. Frames are just as annoying as popups. In fact, a lot of people avoid sites with frames just so they don't have to deal with them. If you want to keep traffic to your site high. DO NOT use frames.

Originally Posted by ChipJohns

Someone, (especially in an office building) can have a 19" monitor and have its res set to 800 x 600. I've seen it. Knowing what your *typical* user is using is what determines what you design to. Not what looks good on YOUR 19" monitor with billions of colors..

That made me smile, I've seen 800x600 on a 21" monitor before - BIG text!

Originally Posted by rybczyk

I feel that I must mention this once just like everyone else. NO FRAMES! Do NOT listen to the person that told you that. Frames are just as annoying as popups. In fact, a lot of people avoid sites with frames just so they don't have to deal with them. If you want to keep traffic to your site high. DO NOT use frames.

And you'd best avoid tables as well (as a few has already mentioned), BECAUSE if you use tables, and design with the HTML-document (such as font, colour, header etc.), and completely ignore CSS, it will be one nasty job redesigning the site afterwards.

Anyhow, the basics, and more advanced XHTML and CSS can be learned at www.w3schools.com and www.htmldog.com. Probably to of the best learning sites for XHTML and CSS on the web. Furthermore, you can use www.alistapart.com to learn other handy tricks, more about web standards, and other things that concern the web, all in all, a very handy page to have in your bookmarks. Lastly, thehttp://bzabza.com to find out more about IE-hacks and how you use them.

There's a lot to learn about the web, webbuliding and designing, and I could have given you a ton of other handy sites, but I really have to stop here, I'm actually a bit afraid of that I've already scared you a bit with all this info, but you can manage it by taking one step at a time. Start with the schools, and work your way through them before you start to worry about the rest.

Happy coding, be well!