Web pages, centre or left aligned?

[brownie]

Does it make much difference if a websites pages are in the centre of the browser or left aligned?

The BBC seem to have done OK with left aligned pages however most sites seem to centre their pages.

Normally I'd centre the pages but I'm trying to get a site up using CSS layout and centreing some parts are proving difficult so left aligning would save a lot of time?

Just wondered if there was any rules or preferences.

Many thanks.

 

[tommy]

The new bbc website is now centred and looks much better then their old site. http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/beta/

I would say centre it as I think centred site are easier to read and look neater.

What trouble are you having with CSS?

 

[stephendoyle]

personally i stick to left.

centre imo looks nicer however, i try to fit everything on a
page so the customers don't have to scroll too much to find
information.

make sure that you check your site on all the different browsers
if possible.

regards
stephen doyle

 

[northern-imaging]

i like centered pages, i don't know why, every site i build i centre because its more pleasing on the eye in my opinion, the feedback i get from my customers is that centered is best for photos at least

 

[wood1e2]

Left gives you more spce to work with...being that you the centre and right space to work with. Although design wise centred pages do look better, but giving you a little less space to work with...

 

[SillyJokes]

Left is good for a magazine style site which people are expected to read a lot on. This is because your eye is trained to go back to the left, narrow columns also help if there's lots of text.

We centred My Favourite Animals and I'm pleased with the result. I can see that it means that the eye knows where to go and it's attractive - just so long as you aren't tempted to fill the sides with hideous patterns!

 

[Astaroth]

Using a widescreen monitor I much prefer centred sites otherwise you can get some sites that have over half the screen empty with their site stuck in corner. The same width but in the centre feels bigger as the empty space is broken up

 

[Page]

On a wide screen - left looks pants.

Higher res and wide screen is going to continue to increase.

I am now tend to associated narrow band web sites as cheap and down market. But there are plenty of serious player out there with them still but they have the advantage of being household names.

The BBC has a different remit from a private business.

 

[brownie]

Many many thanks for all your input, very appreciated.

After having worked on the code for hours last night I was getting a bit tired and word blind. I'll have another look at it tonight to have another go at sorting out the positioning problem.

I have a webpage that expands and contracts I've put a CSS navbar on it which I want slight off-centre. Guess where I'm going? I haven't been able to work out yet how to position the navbar so it moves in flow with the rest of the page. I've tried all the positioning options, I think I need a holding DIV around it maybe?. :|

I can position the navbar to stay in the centre no problem, which with a small design change maybe OK. If I can't get the positioning off-centre sorted quickly this is the way I'll go.

Just gratefull I'm not a web designer. :redface:

 

[TheJollyLabels]

make websites look how you want them to look and so that they look good for your customers. Rubbish looking websites will result in a lack of customer interest and will make them go elsewhere.

For seo purposes you need content to be displayed at the top of your page so that it gets picked up first by the google spiders etc etc, so write your code at the top but make sure its displayed where you want it using css.

 

[capsule01]

Center aligned work better usually as it frames your site nicely on larger resolution monitors.