Hi folks,
Everybody has an opinion on fixed vs flexible layouts. Some people prefer how fixed width sites look, and there is little doubt that they are easier to build. Others hate the whitespace around fixed width designs, thinking they look ridiculous on large monitors.
For a site to get a AA accessibility rating, you are supposed to use relative units (%, em) rather than fixed units (px). However the WAI guidelines do say that, if you use fixed units, you must make sure that your site is usable.
Personal preferences aside, what "accessibility" problems to people see with fixed width layouts and what are the scale of these problems. Could the same arguments hold true for "elastic layouts" (layouts based on ems) and do "flexible layouts" (those based on %) have their own accessibility issues?
Is it acceptable for the vast majority of fixed width CSS based sites to claim AA compliance if all other priority 1 and 2 checkpoints are met?
Andy Budd
http://www.message.uk.com/
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