We're creating the interface for an admin panel and we have a dilemma: chose a fixed width approach as opposed to a fluid/elastic one.
The main argument for a fixed width is that is will look the same on all screens, irrespective of screen size.
But we're talking about admin consoles here, where the target is a very small set of people. And we'd like to bundle in lots of info on the screen. We don't know what our clients are going to use when browsing this admin panel (laptop, desktop, or both) and we wouldn't like to limit their experience.
Most CMS's out there chose an elastic approach for their backends, like Wordpress, Joomla, etc.
Do you have any advices? Thanks
No doubts : choose an elastic design ! It is far more future-proof, with all types of screen-width we begin to encounter today : mobile, netbook, tablets, large desktop screens...
it's not harder to code, only a different approach, and a rewarding one in the long term.
More on the subject : http://www.alistapart.com/articles/elastic/ http://htmldog.com/articles/elasticdesign/demo/