Principles of Web Design

6th Edition

Session 12 – Page Layouts

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 Understanding the Normal Flow
• The normal flow determines the sequence of
element display
• Boxes are laid out vertically one after the
other, beginning at the top of the containing
box
• Each box horizontally fills the browser window

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 Understanding the Normal Flow
• In the normal flow for inline elements, boxes
are laid out horizontally beginning at the top
left of the containing block
• The inline boxes comprise the lines of text
within, for example, a <p> element

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 Floating an Element
• When you float an element, you take it out of
the normal flow
• Check the results frequently as you are
designing your layout using floats

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 Creating Content Containers
• Use the sectioning elements and occasionally
<div> elements to create content sections

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 Choosing the Correct Content Element
• The <div> element has no special meaning;
use it only as a container style purposes, as in
a page wrapper
• <section> is a thematic section of a document
with a heading
• <article> is a reusable section of content
• Be consistent when using these elements

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 Creating Floating Layouts
• The float property lets you build columnar
layouts
• You can align content elements to either the
right or left side of the browser window
• A typical Web page design can contain both
floating and non-floating elements
• Remember to always use a width property for
floating elements

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 Creating Floating Layouts
• Building floating layouts requires that you
choose a method for containing the floating
elements
• You will often see that the floating elements
extend beyond their containing elements,
which will result in a “broken” layout

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 Solution 1: Using a
Normal Flow Element
• If you have multiple columns, at least one
needs to be non-floating (in the normal flow)
• The non-floating element must be positioned
with the margin properties

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 Solution 2: Using the Clear Property
• Use a non-floating footer element (in the
normal flow), with the clear property set to
both

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 Floating Elements within Floats
• Floating elements give you a wide variety of
options for building interesting page layouts
• If you are floating an element within another
element, the order of the elements is
important

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 Fixing Column Drops
• Column drops occur when the total width of
the columnar elements in a page layout
exceeds the width of their containing element

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 Clearing Problem Floats
• Floats occasionally do not appear exactly
where you want them to appear
• The clear property can solve this problem

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 Building a Flexible Page Layout
• Flexible layouts adapt to the size of the
browser window
• With a flexible layout, your content has to
adapt and look good at a wide range of layout
sizes
• Flexible layouts are the basis for responsive
layouts used for mobile devices

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 Controlling Flexible Layout Width
• You can control the compression and
expansion of your content in a flexible layout
by setting minimum and maximum widths
div.wrapper {
width: 100%;
min-width: 750px;
max-width: 1220px;
}

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 Building a Fixed Page Layout
• Fixed layouts remain constant despite the
resizing of the browser in different screen
resolutions and monitor sizes
• Many designers prefer fixed layouts because
they have more control over the finished
design
• Fixed layouts are normally contained by a
wrapper element that controls the page width
and centers the page in the browser window
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Controlling Fixed Layout Centering
• A wrapper division lets you automatically center the
layout in the browser
• This is a great solution for wide-screen monitors
• Automatic centering is a simple use of the margin
property
#wrapper {
width: 960px;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
border: thin solid black;
background-color: #ffc;
}
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 Summary
• The normal flow dictates the way in which elements
normally are displayed in the browser window
• When you remove an element from the normal flow,
you may see unexpected behavior from other elements
• Remember to always use a width property for floating
elements
• Remember to avoid using the height property
• For fixed layouts, content elements are usually
contained with a wrapper element that sets the width
for the page layout
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