Discussion Topic: Layouts

[Renneh]

mehness, well I did give a more lengthy relpy but as I submitted, the forum decided to log me out.

Anyway, I love simplicity, the use of css with navigation, I don't like dark backgrounds as they hurt my eyes... therefore they must hurt everyone elses eyes. Simplicity is important because if you want to make something more bold then its easily done where as if everything is bold, nothing will stand out.

Use of CSS is a big thing for me actually.

Oh and neatness and cleanesss.. colours that work together.

And I like the layout to actually suit the purpose of the website and connect with the likely audience.

I'm a bit miserable as I haven't done any layouts in ages because of my exams XPP

[regigigas5000]

i like layouts similar to the serebii layout and any colours(just as long as they dont make my eyes see double!) and well anything thats easy to navigate basically

[Shana_miku]

I choose a template first (cause I use Freewebs). Then I just put a custom background image and the logo banner. I only use simple layouts. But sometimes, I also use DIV Layouts.

[stillDoLLxx]

i like DIV layouts the best. Any colors (but neon and suuper bright colors) work for me.

[Mumei]

Personally I like graphical layouts, though I'm very picky as far as those go. Basically I don't like sharp corners or different colors on a picture's background and the page's background except for in cases such as drop shadows or if there's a border between them and they're different colors for good reason. They also have to be at least relatively consistent in color where any sort of content is. And if the header is graphical, the rest should be graphical to an extent. The graphicalness shouldn't just stop after the header.

As far as non-graphical layouts go, I like a good amount of separation between different colors (with borders and such), and generally sticking to a certain theme or hue with the colors. And I do like at least a few minor graphics even with a non-graphical layout.

I'm also a fan of centering (not the text itself, but the content area should be centered in the browser window. Or slightly off-center for artistic effect, but not just smushed against the left of the browser window like you put no thought into it.

And I don't like underlined links. At least in the menu area, anyways. If you have links smack dab in the middle of your content, underlining is good. But not in menus. Also, they should change color if you hover over them. Personally I kinda like it if when you hover over them they change to the same color as the background (so it's like they disappeared), but that doesn't always work.

[pokeplatinum62]

does anyone know how to use the same menu on every page using html

[An00bis]

An easy way would be to use SHTML. Essentially you create a layout and break it up into several pieces so be assembled by the SHTML file. This allows you to make changes to say your menu or logo easily without having to edit every single page. Just make sure your server supports Server Side Includes.

[Disgruntled Goat]

The two most common ways are SHTML as An00bis said and using PHP includes. In PHP you just do:

<?php include 'menu.html'; ?>

And put your menu in the menu.html file.

If you don't have PHP or SHTML another solution is to use iframes. Have a menu.html like before with just the links, then on each page. Make sure the links use the attribute target="_parent" so they open in the main page, not the iframe.

[Gamer617]

I like serebii layouts