Liquid Layout
Problem
Users must be able to read text comfortably regardless of the browser window size.
Solution
Allow certain parts of the page to scale
From
www.wired.com
Use when
Basically any website can benefit from this pattern. Nonetheless, the pattern is most effective when used on pages where the is a lot of stuff to be read such as a
News Site.
How
The basic page design must be such that text is readable already. But when users enlarge their browser window, the readability must increase. You must decide which parts of the page will scale along and which ones stay fixed. There is always a main content area that is on the
Center Stage. That one should scale. Other columns with related stuff or navigation usually does not scale.
Why
Scaling the main content area helps users reading the main content. Other sections do not need re-scaling because they do not contain long content that users come for e.g. related sections, navigation, commercial stuff etc.
More Examples
At
www.infosync.no the left column scales while the two right colums keep the same width:
According to Bringhurst in "The Elements of Typographic Style", a good rule of thumb is to limit text columns to a width of about 66 characters. With extra thoughtful leading and good fonts, you can sometimes push this to about 75 or 80.
I would make the case that whenever possible, text meant to be read should be thoughtfully set at a fixed width, then floated in a liquid arrangement of design elements that expand to fit the page.