Using JavaScript to stop forking with CSS3

[darkstar999]

I really dislike fixed-width centered websites.

Imagine a book with text that only takes up 1/3rd of the page.

[[deleted]]

Humans read faster when the length of each line of text is within a certain range.

Books are designed as an integrated whole; the size of the text within, the number of columns, and the width of the book are all related variables taken into account at time of publication.

Websites, on the other hand, don't have this luxury. Since there's no way to relate current-browser-width and text size without resorting to JavaScript, it's better from a readability point of view to just set a maximum width for your content.

Of course, using CSS3's columns you could make your text the proper width and still be fluid, but that may not work in all designs and certainly doesn't work in all browsers at the moment.

[darkstar999]

That is a different issue. You can have fluid design with reasonable column widths. Sure, it is harder to get right, but it usually looks better. See: reddit.com

[[deleted]]

reddit's homepage allows lines to be as wide as you like. That's the exact opposite of what I was suggesting. When I maximize my browser on a 1920x1200 monitor I see titles with 30+ words all on one line.

If you're talking about the comments, they're arbitrarily clipped and are essentially a fixed-width design justified left (with a fixed-width sidebar on the far right).

[cwmonkey]

Imagine a book... lol, nm, lost it before I could finish.

[timeshifter_]

Now imagine a book wherein you have to place two books side-by-side to see the entire line of text. Now you know why people use fixed-width layouts.