table width in dreamweaver

Best to use % or pixel when defining table width?

[Rob1202]

Hi,
I would like a pro's advice on the best way to define a table in dreamweaver.

The objective is to have a web page that is fully visible to 99.99% of users, and not to cut out those with an older PC with a different resolution, etc.

I've heard some say it is best to create one big 100% x 100% on a page, then to define other tables within in it, pixel or %.

I would welcome any good advice from an experienced designer. I've tried just a pixel table 800 w x 600 h but it looks too narrow compared to other sites.

Thanks,
Rob

[Conard]

Welcome Rob1202,
Ive always stuck with the % set up instead of defining an exact size. OK, a few 600 x XXX sites by request.
The % set up gives you more control over the look in different set ups.
That's my take on it any way.

[Rob1202]

Hi,
Thanks your that Conard. Have you tried defining tables within a % table. I'm thinking of stopping stuff moving around too much on the page. I'm guessing that tables/cells within a % table would have to have pixel dimensions specified to stop this movement, or are there other dreamweaver tricks that would help.

Thanks,
Rob

[Conard]

That will open up a whole other can of worms on this board.
Most prefer to use CSS and DIV's for layout.

I do try and avoid nested tables as much as possible but sometimes for speed I will define the whole page in a 600 to 800 PX table and then use % fields inside the main table to position navigation or other content so it will work across all major browsers.

[traffik daddy]

Rob,

Stick to one or the other. If you define one table with pixels embedded in another that is percentage then this could make your site look different in different screen resolutions. If you require to make your site visible to low res users then stick to percentage, but it will look spacious in high res.

Going off one of our sites stats, 0.89% of users are viewing in 640x480 with the rest viewing in a higher res.

I use high resolution 1024x78 which so far is the most popular at 55.43% of users with medium res 800x600 the second most popular at 36.47%. Using these figures I decided to make the site using no more than 760 pixels wide so it is viewable to both of these screen resolutions and they take up a massive 91.9% of users. The rest of the percentage of users use even higher screen resolution.

So going off these figures our site is viewable to 99.11% of users (very close to your target).

I hope these figures help you to make a decision on what you want to do.

Terry

[Rob1202]

Hi,
Okay, I've got some great ideas from this board. Thanks to everyone.

Rob